Providence Journal: Cheif Family Court Judge strikes down challenge to magistrate deciding divorce case. What it means.

This article originally appeared in the Providence Journal on March 29, 2024 and was written by Katie Mulvaney.  

Below is Common Cause staff’s quote included in the article following information on the Chief Family Court judge’s decision to strike down the challenge to magistrates hearing contested divorce cases. 

“If Family Court magistrates are allowed to conduct trials, they should be chosen in the same manner that Family Court judges are selected – through the Merit Selection process. The court cannot have it both ways – arguing that magistrates should be selected in a different manner from judges but granting those magistrates the same powers as judges,” John Marion, executive director of the good-government group, wrote to the House Committee on the Judiciary. 

According to Marion, state lawmakers began exploiting the magistrate loophole almost immediately, with numbers ballooning from a mere handful performing administrative functions to dozens. “Supporters of the Merit Selection system, including Common Cause Rhode Island, pointed out that magistrates are judges in all but name and therefore should be subject to the same selection process as all other judges,” Marion said. He continued “Yet supporters were told time and again that magistrates are not judges because they do not conduct trials.”

To read the full article, click here.