Recommending that the Kapolei Court Complex be renamed as "The Ronald T.Y. Moon Judicial Complex"

Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations (JGO) - chair: Taniguchi, vice chair: Takamine

Thursday, April 2, 2009, 10:00 A.M. Conference Room 016

Testifier: Jean Aoki, LWV of Hawaii Legislative Liaison

Click here to view SCR76

Chair Taniguchi, Vice Chair Takamine, members of JGO, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii takes great pleasure in supporting the renaming of the Kapolei Court Complex to “The Ronald T.Y. Moon Judicial Complex”. Others from the legal community will be commending him for his efforts in making sure that the courts and therefore, justice is accessible to all. They will be noting the many honors he has received. While we do appreciate his efforts to improve the operations of the courts and the Judiciary's contribution in upholding the ideals of a democratic society, we would like to celebrate especially his attempts to educate the public on the role of the judicial branch of government. It is important to him that the public understands the unique role of the courts in fairly adjudicating both civil and criminal cases, of safeguarding the rights of individual citizens, and making sure that laws that are enacted are constituional. Chief Justice Moon has been a leader in championing the cause of judicial independence, without which, justice may not be fair nor accessible to all. This is especially important in this time when too many citizens wrongly believe that the courts' decisions should reflect the opinions of the majority of the public. Without knowing all of the facts in a case, nor the laws that affect the dispensation of the case, we carelessly make judgments because, based on what we know and especially what we don't know, our judgment seems right to us. He has reached out to lay public interest groups like the League, to involve us in some of their initiatives for self evaluation, looking at specific problems, and educational conferences. Chief Justice Moon has been more than gracious in helping us as we worked at learning more about the judiciary and the importance of judicial independence to justice for all. He made himself available for interviews, appointed members of the judiciary to work with us in our studies, and in planning our own conference on judicial independence. At the same time he was not judgmental about our work, and did not try to influence our perceptions on how well our courts were functioning. We know how hard Chief Justice Moon has worked to make the Kapolei Court Complex a reality. For that, and for all his achievements plus more to come, he richly deserves to have the complex named after him. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to support an important resolution.