Oct 25 2011
“Thank Heavens for No Judicial Elections”
That’s the title of an editorial in the Connecticut Law Tribune. The editorial discusses the problems inherent in judicial elections, including “the twin evils” of campaign cash and retribution for unpopular opinions. It then moves on to discuss the recent Wisconsin elections, highly politicized, expensive and divisive. The editorial notes that the role of judges is different, and that the way we choose them should reflect that:
The ultimate power of the judiciary comes from the respect the public has when it feels that the judiciary’s decisions are those of an independent, unbiased institution and that such an institution is more suited than the public itself to decide questions of law and fact. A judicial election that becomes a proxy for resolution of a political dispute is no way to instill public confidence in the independence and objectivity of the judiciary.
This makes sense to us.
The editorial expresses pride and relief that Connecticut does not use judicial elections. It seems a lesson worthy of study for Pennsylvania.
Tags: Connecticut Law Tribune, judicial elections
Entries RSS
[...] “Thank Heavens for No Judicial Elections” — A post from Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts on how Connecticut is thankful it does not have to deal with the folly of judicial elections. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_bg", "ffffff"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_text", "333333"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_link", "0066cc"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_border", "f2f7fc"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_url", "ff4b33"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "politics"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "religion"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "links"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "alabama"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "immigration"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "judicial-elections"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "legal-writing"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "pennsylvania"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "scalia"); GA_googleFillSlot("wpcom_sharethrough"); Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Links and tagged Alabama, immigration, judicial elections, legal writing, Pennsylvania, Scalia. Bookmark the permalink. ← Administration appeals Alabama immigration law decision [...]