Modernization and reform of the Oklahoma judiciary

Abstract

Between 1964 and 1970 trauma and fundamental change swept through the Oklahoma judicial system. In a state not known for its modernizing and reforming impulses, Oklahoma developed the outlines of a modern and effective judiciary. The state court system that prevailed when the scandals of 1964 broke into the open is not at all the state court system we have today. A political and historical analysis of that tumultuous period in Oklahoma judicial history will tell why court reform succeeded then when reform so often fails in Oklahoma. This paper examines the early judiciary and its critique, the push for judicial reform, the Supreme Court scandal of the 1960s, and the eventual reform of the Oklahoma judiciary.