Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Damon Political Report

Conklin questions whether Nevada Supreme Court biased in favor of foreclosure mediation program

Assembly Majority Leader Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, told a television interviewer this week that he questions whether the Nevada Supreme Court would be biased in favor of Nevada’s foreclosure mediation program because it collects the fees to administer it.

Wells Fargo Bank has an appeal before the Nevada Supreme Court arguing the program designed to compel banks to work out agreements with distressed homeowners is unconstitutional.

In an interview that aired Tuesday on Nevada Newsmakers, Conklin said he’s confident the court will uphold the program.

“You never know, if it comes to the Supreme Court, they’ll have to listen to arguments on both sides,” Conklin said. “It would be kind of odd because the court administers the program and the court system retains all the fees. Sometimes you wonder what level of bias there might be in that process.

“I would suspect they’d uphold it.”

Pressed by host Sam Shad about whether he was accusing the court of having a bias because it earns income off of the program, Conklin said he didn’t mean “bias in a negative sense.”

Conklin pointed out that Supreme Court justices testified at multiple hearings before the Legislature as it crafted the legislation creating the program. He said any constitutional issues should have been resolved then.

“The fact still remains they administer that program,” he said. “They know it in detail. I would assume it’s awfully hard to argue against. Members of the court were there to testify and participate in the drafting of the law in the first place.”

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