Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas
swaying a judges opinion in court proceedings
is it legal to try to write a judge in a court matter and ask him to intervene on an interested partys behalf? or ask the judge to subpoeana documents to try and get him or her to take sides
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: swaying a judges opinion in court proceedings
No. such contact is not allowed. Non-party third person contact must be done by amicus curiae brief. According to Wikipedia, Amicus curiae (plural amici curiae) is a legal Latin phrase, literally translated as "friend of the court", that refers to someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information on a point of law or some other aspect of the case to assist the court in deciding a matter before it. The information may be a legal opinion in the form of a brief - testimony that has not been solicited by any of the parties - or a learned treatise on a matter that bears on the case. The decision whether to admit the information lies with the discretion of the court.
In child custody cases, non-party information is sometimes obtained by a child custody investigator who contacts third parties or references supplied by the parties.