The World turned upside down.  II

The original thought behind our constitution was to protect the individual against the excesses of a powerful govt. The present Court appears to have taken the opposite tack.  It is deciding to protect large businesses and govt institutions against the clams of the citizens.

The Court is accomplishing this by limiting citizens rights to go to court to seek relief from what the citizen believes to be an injustice. The Court is  using a very strict, “mean”, interpretation of the law,and legal procedures, to DENY STANDING limit cases accepted by the Court.

Speaking for the majority in a recent Supreme Court case, Justice Clarence Thomas ruled, “Time limits for filing a notice of appeal are  jurisdictional in nature and therefore cannot be waived by Judges for reason for fairness”.   “We hold that the defendant’s untimely notice—even though filed in reliance upon a District Court order--deprived  the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction”,

The defendant’s lawyer sought to reopen an appeal, under a federal rule of civil procedure he had 14 days to file a notice of appeal.  The Judge granted the motion to reopen on Feb 1 0^th but inexplicably said the notice must be filed by Feb. 27.  The notice was filed Feb.26 the day before the Judge’s deadline but two days beyond the legal deadline.

In dissent, Judge David Souter wrote, ”it is intolerable for the judicial system to treat people this way,  Congress put no  jurisdictional tag on the  time limit here” and the court was wrong to add one.  Souter  pointed out, “We have the authority to recognize an equitable  exception to the 14 day limit, 1962 decision, and we should do that here, as it certainly seems reasonable to rely on  order from a federal judge.