Gifts best left ungiven 

As if attorneys don't have enough trouble with a negative image, now comes the state association of lawyers trying to block a new Illinois law aimed at preventing judges from accepting gifts from lawyers or their clients.

Strangely enough, lawyers are the ones protesting the law. Never mind that such gifts could be seen as an attempt to influence judges.

A lawsuit filed by the 36,000-member Illinois State Bar Association claims portions of the state gift ban are unconstitutional. Besides, association chief Timothy Bertschy reasoned, ``We already have a very strict set of guidelines that applies to judges, and it does not need to be duplicated'' by a new state ethics commission.

On the contrary, we see it as a welcome backup system to avoid a repeat of the Operation Greylord corruption scandal involving the influence-peddling exchange of gifts. Like it or not, lawyers who give money or other valuables to judges are perceived as trying to wrangle a favorable decision. The new law might help restore the public's shattered confidence in the entire justice system.

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