Why Hasn't Indiana's Judiciary Faced the Same Level of Media Scrutiny as Other Public Institutions?

Can CJ Rush divided 15,485 by 7,300,000? HE does think so. and she should "retire."

Nationally, the media has shown that it can aggressively scrutinize powerful leaders. Some news organizations were criticized for not asking enough questions about President Joe Biden's fitness for office, while others pursued the story relentlessly. That debate raises a legitimate question here in Indiana.

Has the state's judicial leadership received comparable scrutiny? Indiana has an access to justice crisis which is being covered up.

State

Lawyers as % of Population

Equivalent Ratio

Illinois

0.52%

1 lawyer per 192 residents

Michigan

0.40%

1 lawyer per 252 residents

Missouri

0.40%

1 lawyer per 252 residents

Ohio

0.32%

1 lawyer per 313 residents

Wisconsin

0.32%

1 lawyer per 316 residents

Kentucky

0.30%

1 lawyer per 329 residents

Indiana

0.27%

1 lawyer per 365 residents

State	Population (approx.)	Active Attorneys (approx.)	Residents per Attorney
Illinois	12.5 million	65,000	192
Michigan	10.1 million	40,000	252
Missouri	6.3 million	25,000	252
Ohio	11.9 million	38,000	313
Wisconsin	6.0 million	19,000	316
Kentucky	4.6 million	14,000	329
Indiana	7.3 million	21,000*	338

*The ABA states Indiana has 15,485 active residential lawyers (so the statistic 21,000. above, include out-of-state barred lawyers by Indiana, who local citizens will never hire.

How can Indiana News outlets not report this news? Why hide it? The people know it.

The Indiana Lawyer (the publication)

IBJ Media announced Friday that Jim Meyer, news editor of The Herald-Bulletin in Anderson, will become editor of the Indiana Lawyer on June 24, 2024. The name maybe an oxymon and presumptive of reporting all the states legel news, rather than hiding it, or simply reporting the official press releases of state communication directors.

CHIEF JUSTICE LORETTA RUSH WAS BORN IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Meyer, 44, is a Pennsylvania native who studied journalism at Slippery Rock University. Meyer said he enjoyed writing about crime and courts while working as a reporter for newspapers in the communities of St. Mary’s and Oil City in PA.

He replaced Olivia Covington in the role of editor. Covington, who was hired as editor in June 2021, departed IBJ Media in February to take a role as business development specialist for law firm Dentons Bingham Greenebaum, which is a prominent Midwestern business and tax law firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It operates as a regional partnership node of Dentons, which is the largest law firm in the world. Powerful insiders are certainly in control of justice in Indiana. So, is justice for sale here? Or when was it sold?

In March of 2024, IBJ Media CEO and Publisher Nate Feltman became the company’s sole owner by purchasing the shares of longtime Indianapolis "businessmen" Mickey Maurer* and Bob Schloss this month. Terms of Feltman’s purchase were not disclosed.

Jim Meyer, Indiana Lawyer Editor

Feltman, who served as Indiana’s secretary of commerce from 2006 to 2008, initially acquired a one-third stake in IBJ Media—parent company of Indianapolis Business Journal, Inside INdiana Business, and Indiana Lawyer—in 2017 and increased his ownership stake to 50% in 2020.

Maurer, the first president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. when it was established in 2005, recruited Feltman for a role at the IEDC.

Nate Feltman

Feltman first met Maurer when he attended a session of "Mickey’s Camp," a summer retreat in

August at Bradford Woods in Morgan County, founded by Maurer to facilitate education and networking among the powerful business leaders.

OMG-THIS SEEMS ALL SO CORRUPT: Nate Feltman (who has a deep, long-standing personal and professional connection with former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels) served as Indiana's Secretary of Commerce under Governor Mitch Daniels from 2006 to 2008.

*In 2008, the Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington was renamed in honor of a $35 million gift from Michael S. "Mickey" Maurer and his wife, Janie. "Businessman" Mickey attended Indiana University School of Law where he received a Doctor of Jurisprudence. He was a writer and an editor of the Law Journal. After graduating from Indiana University Law School. Mickey began his career as a business attorney in Indianapolis on June 4, 1969. Source: www.Honorsandawards.IU.edu

Mickey's Camp, founded by Indiana businessman and philanthropist Mickey Maurer. It is not a children's camp. It's an annual retreat for Indiana's business, civic, political, nonprofit, and community leaders held each August at Bradford Woods, Indiana University's outdoor center in Morgan County, southwest of Indianapolis. Do they wear clothing or have odd rituals?

Who Attended

Over the years the camp has drawn a wide range of influential Hoosiers, including:

• governors,

• university presidents,

• CEOs,

• judges,

• attorneys,

• legislators,

• nonprofit executives,

• entrepreneurs,

• and journalists.

Past featured speakers have included:

• former Vice President Mike Pence,

• former Governor Mitch Daniels,

• Purdue President Mung Chiang,

• Indiana University leaders,

• executives from major Indiana companies,

• and other civic leaders.

Why It Matters (Do they have dirt on everyone?)

"Many Indiana insiders have described Mickey's Camp as one of the state's premier informal networking events. Relationships formed there often extend into business, government, higher education, and philanthropy. While the camp is not a governmental institution and does not make public policy, it has long served as a place where influential Hoosiers from different sectors can meet outside formal settings." That is the spin...anyway.

IU Lawyer, Businessman, and Philanthropist, Michael S. "Mickey" Maurer

Mickey Maurer has announced that the 25th annual Mickey's Camp in August 2026 will be the "final edition." Bet no one shows up. He said that he believes the camp has fulfilled its mission after a quarter century of bringing together leaders and supporting charitable causes. Or is the FBI finally interested in such a deep state?

Let's also opine that Maurer practiced law at a time when wealthy Indiana business lawyers practiced law before IOTLA accounts, which took the interest "gap" earnings from lawyers as source of regular revenue, and prohibitions on lawyers free speech, or disallowing lawyers to invest in client projects, or take an ownership interest in exchange for legal fees of start ups or current business clients, which have left lawyers in the state poor.

This doesn't mean to report that he ever engaged such, now considered, unethical conduct--likely on he and God would know that.

He has done good but questions about Indiana's current legal system remain unanswered and unreported by media he once owned.

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR

There is evidence that IndyStar has covered the Indiana Supreme Court, particularly major cases, judicial discipline decisions, attorney discipline, and high-profile controversies.

Indianapolis Star won major journalism awards for legal, criminal justice, and accountability investigations, notably including police K-9 unit violence, medical malpractice civil suits, and decades of police misconduct. [1, 2, 3]

However, whether it has devoted sustained investigative attention to the governance and administration of the Court itself is a different question.

Based on publicly available reporting over roughly the last decade:

• Extensive coverage has been given to:

  • major Supreme Court opinions,

  • judicial elections and appointments,

  • attorney General Todd Rokita

  • attorney discipline involving prominent public officials espeically former Attorney General Curtis Hill, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, current AG Todd Rokita

  • Many other individual lawyer and judicial misconduct cases when formal actions became public, without questioning the court's procedure, exclusivity, personel, or methods.

    
    

• Less common has been long-running investigative reporting focused on:

  • how the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission operates,

  • internal governance of the Indiana Supreme Court,

  • administrative oversight of the disciplinary system (none).

  • judicial budgeting and management,

  • transparency of internal court operations (none),

  • structural reforms to the judiciary (avoided).

    
    

That does not necessarily mean no such reporting exists, but it has not been a dominant or recurring focus in the paper's publicly visible coverage, which begs the question why or why not?

HE has dove in

Meanwhile, The Hoosier Enquirer has devoted significant coverage to Indiana's judiciary and has reported several stories that later became subjects of broader public discussion.

Whether readers agree with every conclusion is beside the point. Independent journalism often asks uncomfortable questions before larger outlets decide those questions merit attention.

Indiana's judiciary oversees millions of residents across 92 counties. They are now reading www.HoosierEnquirer.com in record numbers with legal system article leading, even over the Fever coverage and the Indy500. Stories exposing Loretta Rush drive donations as his really hated around the state by most lawyer, judges, and so many citizens felling screwed by her failed leadership, never qualified as a small county Juvinille Justice Center Court. Many think that Gov. Daniels sold her a seat on the high court bench in exchange for his job a Purdue as Univeristy President. He many racist statements but kept his law license under her tenure as well. She protected him, and he and his sister have protected her. Why? She never new him in her own words until she interviewed him, for what? The Purdue job? Was a deal made? He certainly had something to offer -- a position that she has been unwilling to give up, despite so many standing in the wings to replace her and address the issues she caused.

Citizens have reasonable questions about long court delays, lazy judged, cost of lawyers, why their tursted and gifted attorney was discipline, now with access to justice, no judicial transparency, and administrative performance worse than the license branch. Those are matters of public concern regardless of who occupies the Chief Justice's office. But ignoring Rush is no possible, it not normal, and so, what gives?

Critics argue that Indiana faces persistent challenges, including access to affordable legal representation, inconsistent administration among counties, and questions about whether disciplinary processes provide adequate procedural protections. The media ignores it all.

The larger issue is whether local media has been sufficiently willing to investigate the judiciary with the same intensity applied to governors, legislators, or mayors. Rush showed Hill and Rokita who the most powerful lawyer is in the state and it's not the Attorney General. Governors have feared her, lawyers are rendered silent to speak at all.

Courts exercise extraordinary power impactiong so many people families and businesses. That power should be accompanied by meaningful public accountability and at least some honest reporting by the Indiana Lawyer and the Indy Star.

This is not about personalities or history-making milestones. Indiana's first female Chief Justice should be evaluated by the same standard as any other public official: measurable results, transparent administration, and public confidence in the institution. It's about her dual reality, Rush's lack of effective smart leadership, and results. Indiana citizens have no access, again why? Her pay has been cut. Her pensions not shrinking.

Journalists should not assume criticism is unwarranted simply because the judiciary traditionally receives less coverage than other branches of government. Nor should they accept criticism without evidence. Their responsibility is to investigate, verify, and report wherever the facts lead.

Public confidence in the courts depends not only on judicial independence but also on public accountability. When questions arise about administration, ethics, transparency, or access to justice, those questions deserve careful reporting rather than silence.

The measure of leadership is not the number of speeches delivered or initiatives announced. It is whether citizens experience a court system that is timely, fair, transparent, and worthy of their trust.

“In a small state, a handful of powerful insiders can shape institutions for decades. Our mission is to ask the questions others won’t and follow the facts wherever they lead.” — Gabe Whitley HE Editor