judgesonmerit.org

Sometimes, even good intentions and good ideas don’t actually add up to be all that good.  Take the pledge made by the campaign of Arkansas Appeals Court Judge Karen Baker who is now running for a seat on her state’s Supreme Court.  The ArkansasTimes reports on its blog that Judge Baker “won’t accept campaign contributions from lawyers who practice before her through her campaign to win a state Supreme Court vacancy.”

Let’s take a closer look.  It’s not really clear whose money will be turned away.  Is it lawyers practicing before the judge now, or lawyers practicing before the Supreme Court now?  The campaign itself admits it is “impossible to predict the future,” and that recusal may be warranted if a donor later appears before the judge.  And, as the report points out, the pledge “does not mean Baker won’t accept contributions from other lawyers, including those who might share firms and offices with people who practice before her or lawyers who’ve been before her in the past.”

The blog opines that this is a tactical move by the campaign: trying to convert anticipated low fundraising into a statement of reform.  This may be an unfair characterization; perhaps the judge was motivated by only the best intentions. But that doesn’t change the fact that she may still take contributions that can create potential conflicts.

The blog also notes that a more appealing position would be for a candidate to turn away all donations from lawyers. We believe there’s an even better solution to the issue of campaign fundraising: get judges out of the fundraising business altogether. Stop the flow of money to judicial candidates from lawyers, law firms, businesses, unions and individuals who litigate in the state courts.  Merit Selection is the way to do this.

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