judgesonmerit.org

The Urban League of Philadelphia supports Merit Selection of Pennsylvania’s appellate court judges because the current system of partisan elections has failed to provide diversity on the bench.  The Urban League has submitted written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee explaining their support for Merit Selection:

In our state’s history, only once in 158 years of judicial elections has an African American been elected to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. Equally disturbing is that currently only two out of 31 statewide appellate court judges are African American. Not a single minority sits on the state’s highest court and neither an Asian or Hispanic judge has ever been elected to any of the appellate courts.

I believe the system we use to elect appellate judges is to blame.

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Research by the American Judicature Society shows that racial minorities have greater success reaching appellate benches through merit selection.  Nobody is excluded from the process due to a lack of resources or political connections.  Merit selection emphasizes qualifications and values racial and ethnic diversity – as well as gender, geographic and professional diversity.

Pennsylvania is enriched by its diversity, and deserves to have courts that reflect that diversity.  Merit Selection can help achieve this.  We appreciate and thank the Urban League of Philadelphia for its support.

Learn more about the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and read the testimony of Merit Selection supporters here.

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