judgesonmerit.org

During his campaign for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Justice Michael Gableman ran television ads that were misleading at best and ethically suspect at worst. In response to an ethics complaint against the justice, the remaining members of the state Supreme Court split 3-3 on whether Gableman should be disciplined.

The case has the Wisconsin State Journal asking why the state “continues to subject its top judges to ugly, money-fueled, increasingly partisan campaigns that turn them into the worst of politicians?”

The editorial explains how judicial elections have failed Wisconsin:

Our judges in Wisconsin – especially those on our highest court – are supposed to be independent and impartial. They’re supposed to be above mud-slinging politics.

But elections have plunged them into the mud pit where they raise huge amounts of money – including from individuals and groups who come before the court, setting up conflicts of interest.

Reform initiatives are unlikely to provide an answer:

Efforts to try to limit the money spent on judicial elections may be noble. But those efforts have failed because the nation’s high court has determined that money is speech, protected by the First Amendment.

The paper suggests that Wisconsin change the way it selects judges from elections to a merit selection system, a path that roughly half the states in this country have already taken.

It would restore trust in and honor for our state’s highest court.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS