Mar 17 2010
New Mexico’s Merit/Election Fusion
Gavel Grab alerted us to an editorial in today’s Santa Fe New Mexican criticizing the state’s use of judicial elections. New Mexico employs a hybrid system of judicial selection in which the governor appoints judges to fill vacancies from a list of candidates approved by a merit-selection board; once on the bench those judges must defend their seats in partisan contests in the next general election. The appointee’s challenger need not be approved by the merit board. If the appointee loses, the newly-elected judge serves the remainder of his or her term. Whichever way they reach the bench initially, all judges then face periodic retention elections.
Maintaining that New Mexico runs the risk of losing some of its most qualified judges, the editorial points out,
They had to pass a merit-selection board before the governor appointed them — but now they’re sitting ducks for political opportunists who might or might not have qualified for merit selection.
The editorial articulates some of the most troubling and consistent problems with judicial elections—campaign fundraising and inappropriate political influence.
The judiciary, already held to canons of ethics as lawyers, hew to a higher standard — yet can come under a shadow when judges must raise campaign contributions and round up party support to fend off electoral opposition. And pity the poor merit appointee who dares to hold himself or herself above politics while challengers cut backroom deals. Who’s got the better chance in the primary — where, in Democrat-heavy New Mexico, the contest is usually decided?
Elections may be fitting, and even desirable, for other political branches of government. But elections are ill-suited to the unique function of the courts. Judges should not be perceived as beholden to particular interests or constituency groups, be them campaign contributors or political parties. Judges best maintain their judicial independence by staying out of the political circus. But elections force them right out into the ring.
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