judgesonmerit.org

There’s an old saying that in an election, someone wins and someone loses, but no one takes down the signs. Well, in addition to those signs hanging around, we have the spectre of campaigns raising funds to retire their debts. Winners and losers alike share this need, but special issues are raised when winning judicial candidates, who soon will be taking the bench, are in need of funds.

The ClarionLedger reports that recently elected Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens must raise funds to pay off a campaign debt of $300,000. Lawyers across the state are being asked to contribute. Kitchens’ campaign manager Sam Hall, said the requests are not limited to lawyers. When asked about a phone bank fundraiser directed to lawyers, Hall said: “There is no fundraiser. . . . What we are having is normal campaign business.”

Hall further stated that contributions would not influence Kitchens on the Court, and he explained that Kitchens does not attend fundraisers or view contributor lists.

But we still think that a system that’s set up to have judicial campaigns raise money from lawyers and parties who will appear before them doesn’t make any sense. And it gets worse when the lawyers and potential parties are asked to contribute after the election. Now those contributors know that their money is going to help someone who will be sitting on the Court.

Whether or not a judge knows who contributed what when, this just doesn’t look right. We can understand why the majority of people believe campaign contributions influence courtroom decisions.