Guest Editorial: A class compromise

The lawyers built a roadblock to reform by stacking dollar bills on top of dollar bills in the way of campaign contributions to Democrats, who reciprocated last month by filibustering a measure that would have taken most of the suits out of state courts and put them in federal courts. As of now, the lawyers can shop around for one of the friendly state courts whose anti-business reputations in and of themselves are sufficient to scare the sued businesses into settlements.

Now, it seems, there is a chance the Republicans will negotiate some sort of Senate compromise with the Democrats early next year, and if that's so, and if the compromise does not turn out to be lots of icing with no cake underneath, there is reason for cheerfulness. Some slight degree of class-action reform is not all it will take to transform our civil courts into something once again deserving widespread and deeply felt respect, but it would be movement in the right direction.