Fun letter from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to Justice Randy J. Holland re Georgetown Law

January 5, 2009
Honorable Randy Holland Supreme Court of Delaware

Dear Justice Holland Randy
In October, you were a featured panelist at the 2008 Sandra Day O’Connor Project conference on Our Courts and Corporate Citizenship. The day was devoted to a discussion of the relationship between judicial independence and the vitality of corporations and our economy.

We discussed the important role of independent courts in ensuring the rule of law that gives confidence to markets, and we discussed some of the reasons that corporations have increasingly turned from the use of courts to resolve their disputes to the less public, less regulated fora of alternative dispute resolution. Finally, we discussed the role of campaign contributions in state court judicial races, and why it is essential that the public have confidence in the impartiality of our judges.
The events of the last few weeks have reconfirmed the worth of these themes. As we have seen, decision-making that was done out of the public view, without regulation and without impartial referees, has done devastating damage to the confidence of markets. While the resolution of the current crisis in the financial realm will require the creation of new mechanisms and solutions, in the realm of public dispute resolution, the courts have always stood ready, if they remain independent, to serve as a neutral arbiter, whose sole mandates are to administer justice and uphold the rule of law.

We know that you understand how important the courts are to our democracy, and so we invite you to serve as a member of the Task Force on Courts and Corporations. This group of distinguished individuals from the corporate and legal community will review the conference proceedings, deliberate, and issue a report on the ways that the corporate community can uphold the independence of the courts. Your professional stature and acumen, and that of the other proposed members of the Task Force will assure that the report will receive media coverage and public attention.

The Task Force will receive staff support from the Sandra Day O’Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary. Members will confer by conference call on three occasions, in January, February and March, and by May 1, 2009 will issue a 5-6 page white paper making a series of recommendations with proposed action steps.

To get you started, we attach a summary prepared by staff which represents “raw” findings that emerged from the Conference.
We hope that you will agree to participate in this important project. To indicate your agreement to do so, please contact ————, the Project Director of the Sandra Day O’Connor Project.

Very truly yours,
Sandra

Sandra Day O’Connor Associate Justice, Retired
United States Supreme Court

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