Wednesday night quick links

It's a busy week. I apologize for not posting more; it's just a function of being in the trenches. Having a blog, liking being a writer, someone once said, is like having homework every day for the rest of your life.

First: budget decisions are coming soon. We hear that the chief judges and something called the "trial court budget commission" is meeting this week in Tampa. Stay tuned.

Second: Hey, wouldn't be cool if we dependency defense attorneys had a private message board on which to exchange ideas and gripes and rumors, and etc. More on that soon, but in the meantime, it already exists, and the sound of crickets chirping is starting to get to me.

Third: Via Drudge, I noticed this: It seems the Washington Post, rightly so, is concerned that up to 250 deportees, nationwide, have been administered psychotropic drugs against their will, and even a handful have been administered psychotropic drugs without a judge's order. That's bad. Here's hoping the Washington Post turns its eye to what happens to foster kids. 250 nationwide would seem so very quaint, wouldn't it?

Fourth: Now here's where things get interesting. You really need to read this. Seriously, if you are reading this blog because of an interest in dependency law, you need to read this. Click on the words you are reading right now to download the .pdf and read it.

I got the Manatee County court order at that link from the Justice Building blog (motto: The drivetime morning zoo of Florida legal blogs), which is a good read.

I wanted to excerpt some things from the order, but it's late, and I might get around to after tomorrow and Friday's trials. Suffice to say that attorney Joseph Campoli, with help it seems from FACDL, is something of a hero.

And The Honorable Judge Lee Haworth is an official Samurai Jurist. Faced with the impossible task of finding enough attorneys willing to take cases under the new law, Judge Haworth eyed that gordian knot, unsheathed his sword, and in 23 pages of his ruling made a solution, perhaps the only one possible.

Really, read what quite possibly is the most gratifying order denying an attorney his motion to withdraw you've ever read.