judgesonmerit.org

This past weekend, the American Constitution Society held its annual conference in Washington D.C.  One of the panels addressed the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Caperton and its impact on states that elect judges.

According to the Blog of the Legal Times and Gavel Grab, the participants did not reach consensus on the best way to select judges, but we’re persuaded by a comment made by Rebecca Kourlis, former Colorado Supreme Court Justice and executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver.  Responding to Justice At Stake’s Bert Brandenburg explaining that after Caperton “the problem then becomes how much is too much for a judge to accept and still hear a case,”  Judge Kourlis argued:

[E]ven asking that question is “unseemly.” By asking what the threshold is, she said, people are saying there is an amount that is acceptable. ” Any time money is in the courtroom, you’re going to have the perception that it is affecting the judge’s decision.”

Judge Kourlis advocates a Merit Selection system as the answer.  We agree with her: the only way to solve the problems caused by money in judicial elections is to get judges out of the fundraising business.

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