A Tool For the Supreme Court

Just got off the phone with the Supreme Court clerk’s office Tuesday, June 3, 2:55 pm. We called to see if the clerk’s office had received the Motion for Injunctive Relief that I filed on Friday (May 31st) from their central processing facility (after 9/11 they have to scan all papers for toxic chemicals). He had not received it even though we clocked it in Friday afternoon at which time we were told it should arrive at the clerk’s office for distribution to the judges on Monday (June 3rd).
He asked a little of what the motion was about and under the rule of court, he would not accept it anyway unless we could give affidavit of complying with the rule (it’s a good common sense rule that says you must first exhaust remedies in all lower courts before coming to the Supreme Court.)
But this is not an ordinary Prayer for Injunctive Relief, this is an extraordinary Prayer for Injunctive Relief. (In legalese ‘Prayer’ is another word for ‘Motion’) Time is of the essence. What sense does it make to go back to this conflicted judge in New York and wait for him to rule on your motion, and then follow the chain up; next stop the Supreme Court of New York State; then, and only then, the U.S. Supreme Court??
The man on the phone seemed determined to dig his heels in and require us to go around Robin Hood’s barn before he will allow the judges to see it. It reminds me of the problems that physicians have encountered with insurance companies. They want to discharge the doctor’s patient prematurely and when the doctor inquires of the insurance company representative if he has even gone to medical school, the answer is “no”, but the insurance representative is enjoying the authority he has over the doctor and the doctor’s patient.
What I am saying is that I have done my best to give the Supreme Court the tool they need to act immediately. I think we succeeded in at least getting the idea out. (I gave 3 copies to a nice older man who worked in the clerk’s office, and when I told him what it was about, he said “I will see that the right people get these.” He seemed to know what he was doing, and who he would get it to. He seemed sincere and determined to assist in getting it to the right individual or individuals who could make a difference.
Curiously, the conversation came right outside the locked door of the clerk’s office (he was headed back in with a McDonald’s bag in his hand. I saw what I thought was a fish sandwich in a box and I told him my father used to say that McDonald’s fillet of fish was the only thing that they couldn’t mess up. He agreed but said his was a chicken sandwich.
The guard opened the door for him promptly and he went in with a McDonald’s bag in one hand and 3 copies of our motion in the other. Bless his heart. He wasn’t worried about toxic chemicals.
Gone are the old days when we could walk in through an open door to the clerk’s office and have a friendly chat with the people behind the counter and file things in person.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
R. Martin Palmer
P.S. Perhaps some of you can think of a way to get this motion for what its worth in the hands of someone who can make a difference.
We need the court to quell the flared tempers beginning to rise in this nation. They did it with the Florida vote in Bush v. Gore. The judges reached down and pulled it straight upstairs (none of this business of having to exhaust your remedies in the Florida state courts. In so doing the Supreme Court once saved our Republic in Bush v. Gore. Now they need to do it again.