judgesonmerit.org

A recent editorial in Mobile’s Press-Register discusses judicial salaries, standards of quality and requirements for getting a seat on Alabama’s appellate bench. To ensure that the quality of the judges on the bench consistently matches their relatively high salaries, the paper suggests abandoning judicial elections and switching to Merit Selection.

[T}o improve the quality of the appellate courts... switch to a Missouri-style system of judicial appointment and voter retention. Choosing judges in nasty, lavishly financed partisan elections demeans the courts and discourages well-qualified people from pursuing a position on the appellate bench. If the state adopted the merit selection process included in the Missouri Plan, it's unlikely that judicial pay would outpace judicial quality.

Alabama is gearing up for an expensive state supreme court race this Fall, funded primarily by groups and individuals that spend a lot of time in court. We join with the Press-Register in the hope that the state will abandon big-money judicial elections, and make the switch to Merit Selection.