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The Legal Intelligencer has published a commentary piece (subscription required) by PMC and PMCAction entitled “People Should Decide on Change of Judicial Selection Process.”  The piece focuses on the process required to amend the constitution to change how judges are selected.  This process requires the legislature to pass the amendment in two successive legislative sessions.  Second passage is followed by a public referendum.  That means the constitution can only be changed if the people of Pennsylvania vote for it to be changed.

We trust the people of Pennsylvania to make decisions about how to select appellate court judges:

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts and PMCAction believe the people of Pennsylvania should have the opportunity to decide whether to change the way we select our appellate judges. It has been 40 years since the question was last put to the people, and, in those 40 years, judicial elections have changed dramatically. We believe that it’s time for Pennsylvanians to take a serious look at how appellate judges are selected and determine whether it’s working or if we need a change.

We wonder why our confidence in the public is not shared.  Many defenders of the current judicial election system claim they oppose change because they want to protect the franchise.  But this claim cannot be reconciled with their refusal to let the people vote on this critical issue.

It’s time to find a better way to select appellate court judges — a way that doesn’t rely on expensive campaigns and that reduces the influence of random and irrelevant factors like ballot position, name recognition and fundraising ability. We want the people of Pennsylvania to vote on whether or not to change the judicial selection process. We’re not afraid to hear their answer. We wonder why “defenders of the franchise” are afraid to let the people vote.

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