People v. Scalza

Stressing the goals of improving the efficiency of our courts and expediting the disposition of pretrial motions in criminal cases, the majority has ratified yet another legislative effort to transfer the duties of elected, constitutional Judges to administratively appointed functionaries. While recognizing as a general principle the existence of a core of judicial authority that is both "nondelegable and exclusive” (majority opn, at 608), the majority nevertheless declines to include in that category what I consider to be one of the most important areas of fact finding: determinations of…