The Issues, No. 41 - Selection of Judges

Currently there are three basic methods of selecting judges in the United States; selection, election, and merit selection. In the selection method, usually a state Governor or, in the case of Federal Judges, the President, selects the judges and then have to have some approval by the state or federal legislature. In the election method, judges are nominated by a political party and run as a candidate of that party. The problem I have with these two methods are that they are both political. In the selection method the Governor or the President select judges who are from the political parties they represent. In the election method, the aspiring judges have to run and campaign for election as members of a political party and they have to raise money, make speeches, and make political campaign promises just as other politicians seeking election have to do. Both the selection and election methods are political and therefore compromise judge's independence and impartiality because he or she is not necessarily free of economic and political pressure.

The merit selection method, according to the American Judicature Society, "is a way of choosing judges that uses a nonpartisan commission of lawyers and non-lawyers to locate, recruit, investigate, and evaluate applicants for judgeships. The commission then submits the names of the most highly qualified applicants (usually three) to the appointing authority (usually the governor), who must make a final selection from the list. For subsequent terms of office, judges are evaluated for retention either by a commission or by the voters in an uncontested election". About two thirds of the states select, at least some of their judges using the merit selection method. Although I believe this to be the better of the three selection methods it still has an element of politics in that the appointing authority, who is a politician in most cases, will select the candidate that most closely represents his and his political party's philosophy.

I personally think the best way to select judges is to combine the merit selection and election methods. Why not use "a nonpartisan commission of lawyers and non-lawyers to locate, recruit, investigate, and evaluate applicants for judgeships" and then place the names "of the most highly qualified applicants (usually three)" on the ballot so that the voters can elect them. The judges resumes can be provided by the media, the commission, or the League of Women Voters to the voting public well before election day and/or a commission representative can hand out the resumes on election day at each polling facility. This method takes politics entirely out of the selection process and the resulting judges will not owe allegiance to anyone or any group.