judgesonmerit.org

Gavel Grab offers a detailed analysis of “Our Courts and Corporate Citizenship,”a conference held by the Sandra Day O’Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary in Washington, D.C. last week.  Featuring judges, justices and business leaders from throughout the country, the conference focused on the relationship between the functioning of the courts and the business environment.  Many participants expressed concern about the escalating fundraising in state judicial races and the damage it causes to the public’s perception  of courts’ and judges’ independence and impartiality.   Justice O’Connor’s opening remarks sum up these concerns:

The pendulum of judicial bias swings both ways. . . . Once you hang the For Sale sign on the court house door, you can’t predict who the buyer will be. As plaintiff and defendant-friendly groups each race to pour money in to get their judges elected, the only result they’re assured of is that the rule of law will suffer.

This is a major problem with electing judges and a key reason we advocate for implementing a Merit Selection system for Pennsylvania’s appellate courts.