judgesonmerit.org

In a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer, PMC’s Shira Goodman argues that Merit Selection ends the money game that is so much a part of judicial elections.  Remember, much of the money that funds appellate court election campaigns comes from lawyers, law firms, businesses, unions and others with cases before the appellate courts.  In addition, the political parties often — like in this year’s Supreme Court race — spend big money to elect their favored candidates.

Merit selection eliminates all this spending and, most importantly, stops the flow of money from lawyers to the campaigns of judges likely to rule on their cases.

The letter also focused on the role of the public in a Merit Selection process, including: participation on the nominating commission; providing information about applicants for appellate court vacancies to the nominating commission, the Governor and the Senate during the application/evaluation, nomination and confirmation processes; and voting in retention elections to determine if judges should remain on the bench.

Critically, only the people of Pennsylvania can change the way we select appellate court judges:

Pennsylvania can change the way we select appellate judges, but only if the people vote to amend the constitution. It is time to let Pennsylvanians make this decision.

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