judgesonmerit.org

We’re hearing calls for Merit Selection down in Mississippi. An editorial in the Clarion Ledger cites recent scandals and increasing campaign costs as reasons to consider moving away from electing judges. Lawyers in the state bar association and the Federalist Society are calling for reform, but there will need to be a big public education effort to convince the public: “the biggest hurdle is general Mississippi tradition of wanting to vote on everything and everybody.”

To combat this common argument against Merit Selection, the author argues:

The reality is voters don’t know very much about judicial candidates, or enough. We have a system that allows inordinate influence by special-interest money. Believe me, dear voters, you aren’t really picking judges. The major races are carefully choreographed: who runs, who gets financed. You just pull the levers.

We understand that it’s very difficult to change from an elective system, but this author points out in stark terms why voting for judges doesn’t really make sense.

Another Mississippi newspaper is warning about the effects of massive campaign donations on the justice dispensed in the state’s appellate courts. An editorial in the Greenwood Commonwealth considers recent trends in verdicts issued by the Mississippi Supreme Court, and suggests that campaign contributions might be influencing the Court’s decisions. “For the coming elections,” the paper warns, “voters should educate themselves on who is contributing to whom because that’s a good sign as to how they’ll rule if elected.”

The piece offers a solution that would remove any suggestion that campaign contributions influence verdicts: do away with elections for appellate judges.

What is needed on the court, of course, are fair-minded jurists who are not beholden to big contributors… This could be better accomplished through a system of appointing, rather than electing, appellate court judges.

Merit Selection does exactly that. Merit Selected judges don’t have to raise campaign funds, so any apperance of bias toward campaign donors is eliminated. It’s time to bring Merit Selection to Pennsylvania, so that our appellate judges can rule based on the law, free from any suggestion that they’re just following the money.

A June 29th editorial in Jackson, Mississippi’s Clarion-Ledger shows how wealthy interests on either side of a single issue - tort reform - have twisted elections for the state’s Supreme Court. These elections have become a million-dollar sparring ground, where big bank accounts battle to influence judicial policy, and the interests of ordinary citizens and impartial justice are consigned to the bleachers.

Both sides - plaintiffs’ attorneys and the business/medical community - have too much riding on the outcome of cases not to spend big bucks on these campaigns. Left out and ignored, however, are the poor, the voiceless and those who don’t have enough money for political action committees or lobbyists.

When judicial elections become multi-million dollar endeavors, winning a seat on the bench can become a fundraising contest. Smart, fair-minded and experienced candidates are locked out of the system if they can’t generate the level of donations necessary to compete.

Opponents of judicial selection reform like to present themselves as the champions of the people, fighting to preserve the rights of citizens. But often, what they’re really trying to protect is the ability of wealthy campaign donors to decide who makes it to the bench.

Merit Selection of appellate judges short-circuits the influence of big campaign donations. Because candidates are evaluated on their knowledge and experience, Merit Selection gives qualified people who can’t raise gobs of campaign cash a shot at becoming a judge. The appellate bench will be open to people from all backgrounds, and all areas of the state, with knowledge of and respect for the law as the primary criteria for membership.