judgesonmerit.org

Our partners at Justice At Stake commissioned a survey about the public’s attitudes towards the influence of campaign contributions on judicial decision-making , and guess what they found:  “An overwhelming percentage of U.S. adults believes that judges cannot be completely impartial and should not participate in cases that involve large campaign contributors.” As reported on Gavel Grab and in Justice At Stake’s press release, 81% of those surveyed also believe that judges should not be making their own decisions about recusing in such cases but instead should abide by the decision of another judge.

Reflecting on the poll results, Justice At Stake Executive Director Bert Brandenburg explained:

Americans overwhelmingly believe that campaign cash has no place in the courtroom. . . . They are very skeptical that a judge can be impartial when one side has spent big dollars to help put them on the bench.

As Pennsylvania’s judicial election season heats up, we should be asking ourselves why we continue to put would-be judges in the position of funding their campaigns with contributions from parties and lawyers likely to appear before them in court.  Why do we tolerate a system that undermines confidence that justice will be meted out impartially? It’s time for a change.  We need to get judges out of the fundraising business. Merit Selection can do that.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS