judgesonmerit.org

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille recently told the Pennsylvania Prothonotaries’ and Clerks of Courts’ Association that there is no reason for these positions to be elected. “The way I see it, it should be a professional person’s job, and they should be answerable to the court system.”

The remark sparked an article in Philadelphia’s The Bulletin on Chief Justice Castille’s views regarding merit selection for judges. The justice is in favor of abolishing the current system of judicial elections for appellate level judges, including the Supreme Court. The Bulletin talked to Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts Deputy Director Shira Goodman.

It’s not new. If you look back, [Justice Castille] talked about this for a long time. He’s talked about the electoral process not being the way for many years.

Castille is one of many high-profile government officials, as well as reform groups and regular citizens, who have called for an end to judicial elections. Governor Rendell has spoken out on multiple occasions about the need to switch to a merit-based selection process for the appellate bench. Said the governor’s press secretary Gary Tuma,

The governor has on several occasions, here in his second term, suggested that we should move to a judicial merit selection instead of electing them in the polls. The important thing is to free justices from this requirement of raising money from the legal community, and, in some cases, some people who are going to be appearing in front of them in court.

The call for merit may become even greater due to the recent turmoil on the Supreme Court, a focus of the Bulletin article. Justice Joan Orie Melvin is currently undergoing investigation for improperly using taxpayer money and government resources for her recent campaign. The Chief Justice has also been subject to attacks that he mishandled the proposed Philadelphia Family Court project.

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