judgesonmerit.org

A new poll released by Justice At Stake confirms that the belief that campaign contributions influence judicial decision-making is shared by Republicans and Democrats.  Among the key findings of the poll:

71 percent of Democrats, and 70 percent of Republicans, believe campaign expenditures have a significant impact on courtroom decisions. All told, 71 percent of voters share this assessment; only 23 percent believe campaign expenditures have little or no influence on elected judges.

Justice At Stake explains in its press release:

The American mainstream wants courts to be off-limits to special-interest money and partisan politics. . . . The new polling shows that the desire for impartial courts is broad and bipartisan.

We have written before about the growing public perception that justice is for sale.  This perception is powerful and problematic, even if it might be erroneous.  That is, even if no judge ever were influenced by a campaign contribution, the belief that he or she could be persists.  It is not possible to disprove the belief.  This in itself weakens our courts, because our courts can only function when they have the trust and confidence of the people.

The only way to overcome the perception is to break its foundations — and the only way to break the perceived link between money and justice is to get money out of the system.  This can best be achieved by getting judges out of the fundraising business by using a selection system that does not require money at all: Merit Selection.

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