judgesonmerit.org

PMC Deputy Director Shira Goodman attended this week’s Georgetown Law-Aspen Institute conference focused on selecting judges in the wake of the Caperton and Citizens United decisions. Goodman reports that there were two clear messages: First, judicial elections are about to become even more expensive, partisan and divisive. The second and more optimistic message is that now is the time for judicial selection reform.

Justice O’Connor said the recent Supreme Court decisions should serve as a warning for states that elect judges and urged them to consider changing to Merit Selection. She explained that the Caperton decision demonstrated how contributions and campaign spending can poison the judicial system. In her view, Citizens United signaled that the problem of campaign spending in judicial elections could quickly be getting even worse.

This comes as no surprise, as we have long been concerned about the growing problem of mixing money with choosing judges. We hope that Justice O’Connor and others are correctly predicting that these recent decisions will serve as a wake-up call.

Pennsylvania needs to have a serious dialogue about how we choose appellate court judges. We hope that dialogue can proceed. If not, we will lose what Justice O’Connor has called the “one safe place” we have — fair and impartial courtrooms.