judgesonmerit.org

In an editorial in today’s Patriot-News, we make the case for Merit Selection of appellate court judges: Merit Selection “gets appellate judges out of the fundraising business and emphasizes qualifications. It opens pathways to the bench for qualified individuals from diverse backgrounds. This should give Pennsylvanians more confidence in the ability, fairness and impartiality of appellate courts.”

We explain the lengthy constitutional amendment process, which culminates in a public referendum. We emphasize that only the people of Pennsylvania can decide — by voting in a referendum — to change the way we pick appellate court judges.

The editorial closes with an appeal to get this issue before the people: “It’s time to let Pennsylvanians decide whether expensive, partisan elections are the best way to pick appellate court judges. Legislators should be encouraged to pass this proposed constitutional amendment and put merit selection on the ballot so that we — the voters of Pennsylvania — can decide for ourselves how to choose appellate court judges.”

On Friday, April 4th, Dan Pero of AmericanCourthouse.com posted two items critical of our perspective on judicial selection of appellate judges in Pennsylvania. We’ve said all along that reasonable people can disagree about judicial selection. We started this blog to encourage discussion about the subject, and we’re gratified that Mr. Pero believes the issue to be important. However, we wish he would stop trying to mislead his readers.

In his swipes at Merit Selection, Mr. Pero returns again and again to the same hollow argument. He insists there is a conspiracy afoot to “take away” the right of the citizens of Pennsylvania to vote for appellate judges.

No matter how many times Mr. Pero and other critics of Merit Selection repeat this mantra, no one can take away the current elective system from the citizens of Pennsylvania. The state Constitution can only be amended after the voters pass a referendum to authorize the change. Like other Merit Selection critics, Mr. Pero ignores this fact.

We can only adopt a Merit Selection system for Pennsylvania’s appellate judges if the people of Pennsylvania vote for it. The only thing we want to “take away” from the people is the false impression that anyone can implement Merit Selection in Pennsylvania without popular consent.

Last night on 1210 Tonight with Anthony Mazzarelli (WPHT 1210 AM, the Big Talker) Bob Heim, Board Chair of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, and Russ Diamond, founder and chair of PA Clean Sweep, found common ground. Heim and Diamond — who don’t necessarily agree about judicial selection issues — together called for the people of Pennsylvania to have the chance to decide the best way to pick appellate judges. Despite their different perspectives, they each declared that the people should have their say.

Heim and Diamond agreed that there should be a public referendum (the final stage in amending the Constitution) to settle the question of how to choose appellate judges. Big Talker host Anthony “Mazz” Mazzrelli also argued that it’s time to allow Pennsylvanians to determine the best way to pick our appellate judges. To listen to the discussion, you can download the podcast.

Future posts will discuss this further, but PMC and PMCAction want to be clear that changing the way we pick judges is a decision only the voters of Pennsylvania can make. And we trust them to make it.