judgesonmerit.org

Bob Ewegen over at the Blackacre Journal shared his thoughts about Caperton earlier this week.  After a colorful retelling of the facts, Ewegan notes:

If you’re a fan of author John Grisham, you may recognize the plot of his latest legal thriller, The Appeal, which Grisham admits was inspired by the events in West Virginia.  And as rank as the fictional outcome or the real events may seem to fair-minded Americans, the same outrage could have been perpetrated in any of the thirty-nine states that still elect at least some of their judges in contested elections.

Ewegen notes that his state, Colorado avoids these problems because Colorado uses Merit Selection: “This system is infinitely preferable to letting rich litigators rig the scales of justice by paying millions to elect judges predisposed to their side to the courts that will decide the manipulators’ cases.”

Ewegen goes on to explain the Supreme Court’s decision in Caperton and concedes that the decision, combined with long-existing requirements that judges recuse if they have a direct financial outcome in the case may solve some problems.  But, he argues, “the real answer is for the thirty nine states that still elect judges in contested elections to adopt merit systems like Colorado’s.”

We agree and hope Pennsylvanians will be given the opportunity to decide whether to change the current judicial election system and adopt Merit Selection for the appellate courts.

Just last month, we reported that the Ohio Supreme Court amended the rules governing judicial conduct to permit judicial candidates to announce their political affiliations to the voters. Well, the Court has now reversed course and reinstated the rule barring judicial candidates from announcing their political affiliation after the primary election.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer,  although the initial rule change followed public comment and was publicy announced, this time, the Court made secretly and did not publicize the reinstatement of the prohibition for nearly a week:  “Two weeks after passing a rule that would allow judicial candidates to align themselves with political parties for general elections, the Ohio Supreme Court without explanation or public notice has reversed its decision.”

We will keep our eyes open for more information about what led to the Court’s decision to reinstate the old rule.