How many people are in prison having been wrongly convicted? It’s hard to tell, but even one is too many. We need to have a temperate view of things however; after all the judicial system is made up of people, who will make mistakes. I suppose, we must be honest that justice, as long as it is being administered by humans, isn’t going to be perfect – perfect justice comes at the hand of the only perfect judge, when we die. What happens though, when a judge colludes with one side of the legal system (the prosecution) against the other side (the defense)? That’s quite a different scene. We will chronicle a case where that is exactly what is being alleged.

Minneapolis lawyer Jill Clark and Hennepin County Chief Judge Lucy Weiland are locked in a battle that has the potential to uncover corruption in the courts of a proportion that could put hundreds and even thousands of cases into question, toward new trials. The monetary costs could be staggering, but the cost in confidence would bankrupt a judiciary that already suffers.

This article isn’t about this one case, although we use it to exemplify the issue; it is about a type of corruption that is more than opportunism – rather a systemic effort to establish and maintain an elite class of ruling people. All across Minnesota judges are ignoring the law that directs them in the carrying out of their duties and the result is injustice. For example, and in contrast to the back room kind of deal that Judge Weiland is being accused of, Judge Stephen Aldrich, in District Court File #250715, responded to a court room argument from lawyer Tim Jaysen, representing Hennepin county's interest, citing a law to Judge Aldrich that requires the presiding judge to order the Respondent who is a lawyer, to direct payments of his child's state subsidized healthcare directly to the county. "You must adhere to the law", Mr Jaysen argued. "I can do whatever I want in my courtroom!" Judge Aldrich replied.

Maybe we’re missing something here; surely Judge Aldrich isn’t saying he can ignore any law he wants to ignore?! The same judge, Stephen Aldrich, in a different case stood up in the courtroom, turned backside to the courtroom, gyrated his hips in a mock dance, and waved his posterior at the defendant singing "La Te Da!". Judge Aldrich then told the defendant that he would "bulletproof the records". Could he possibly be that brazen as to telegraph his corruption? There’s got to be more to this story; and there is. The reader will be stunned and, if justice is at all important, will be indignant.

It is easy to find and to site these types of obvious and overt examples of judicial power-mongering. Why they would do it in individual cases is not known, and really irrelevant. However, there is a much larger problem and, because of the injustice that results, it is necessary to expose and call you to proper action. The problem in Minnesota is that the MN Constitution is being gutted in favor of the power elite that rule. It isn’t coincidental that these power elite are lawyers. The government structure has a division of powers into three divisions: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. According to Article IV of the MN Constitution, any State Legislator must resign any other office he holds in State or Federal government (except as Post Master or Notary Public). Do you know very many State Legislators who aren’t lawyers? As a lawyer, they hold a position in the Judiciary as an “Officer of the Court.” As an Officer of the Court, they are sworn to protect the judges of the court (who rule within them). This allegiance is at the core of this problem that we face.

We are posing several questions:

• Who do the State Legislators represent, the people or the judges?

• Do judges own their court rooms, able to do as they please?

• Is the MN Constitution valid any longer?

• Are we, the people, responsible to our children and grandchildren’s generations to take proper action and to purpose to rectify this unlawful arrangement?

These, and many other questions, are going to be asked. It is up to you, the public, to answer them. Certainly the current abuse of power that we all find so easy to believe is not the way it is suppose to be. We must demand the law be carried out as written and the power of the judiciary brought back to a place that justice is possible for us once again. If we don’t meet this demand, the next case we chronicle might be yours. Stay tuned.