judgesonmerit.org

The campaign for Merit Selection is an effort to bring to Pennsylvania a better process for selecting appellate court judges. It is not about the judges currently serving on the appellate courts.

Pennsylvania has many qualified, skilled, experienced and fair appellate judges. But they reached the bench despite the electoral process, not because of it. We’d get a lot more good judges under Merit Selection, which is designed to bring such people to the bench.

Sometimes the electoral process produces good, capable judges, and sometimes it produces the best fundraisers and campaigners, who may not be the best judges. Pennsylvania deserves a system that is designed to get the best judges on the appellate courts.

Elections are the best way to select presidents, governors, mayors, senators, and representatives — public officials who represent specific constituencies and advocate for identified policies. Judges have a different role — they are sworn to evenhandedly apply the law, without regard to personal preference, political pressure, popular will, or promises made to voters or campaign donors. Pennsylvania needs a system of selecting judges that respects this difference.

This campaign is not about the judges currently sitting on our appellate courts; it’s about the process that brought them there. Merit Selection is a better way.

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