due process

Among the state systems governing foreclosure, Hawaii has a particularly fraud-riddled, draconian process. Elderly Suzanne Bonds was unbelievably exploited by that process in 2004, but Hawaii's courts refused to help. Now, her attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

A New Jersey court has invalidated a foreclosure by insisting on a basic concept of due process -- that the bank must authenticate the documents it uses to make its case. But in the case of Wells Fargo v. Sandra A. Ford, there are more issues than just who owns the mortgage. She has fraud claims that go back to the very beginning.

When the state tightened its foreclosure rules in response to the document crisis, it ordered the six largest servicers to explain why they should be allowed to continue foreclosing on homes. In effect, their response went something like this: "Trust us, everything's fine now."

Judges in several states are emerging as defenders of due process and the rule of law when confronted with the banks' rampant use of false foreclosure paperwork. Alas, that's not so true in Florida, where a foreclosure can be heard in seconds.

On Monday, the Supreme Court declared the Second Amendment applies to the states as well as the federal government, which essentially gives all Americans an individual right to possess a handgun. But the constitutional underpinnings of the ruling are shaky -- and potentially revolutionary.