judgesonmerit.org

The Rome News-Tribune reports that two members of the Georgia Court of Appeals, Judges Stephen Louis A. Dillard and Judge Keith R. Blackwell, will be running for election in 2012. Both judges were appointed by former Governor Sonny Perdue last November. However, the judges clarify that the political party of their appointing governor does not define them as judges. Dillard says, ““The reality is we’re not Republican judges. We’re not Democratic judges. We’re just judges.” Blackwell agrees that partisan affiliations should not, and do not, affect how a judge decides a case. “I can tell you uniformly on our court I am confident that there is not one of the 12 judges who would look at a case and ask how would the Democrats like this case to come out or how would the Republicans like this case to come out in deciding the case,” says Blackwell.

Unlike Pennsylvania, which selects all judges through partisan elections, Georgia selects its judges through nonpartisan elections. While taking the party label off the judicial ballot might help, candidates may still be labeled as “Republican” or “Democrat” by the public, because the public is accustomed to an election system based on party politics. Elections are simply not the appropriate vehicle for judicial selection if we want judges chosen based on ability and not on other factors that have no bearing on how a judge will do his/her job, factors like party affiliation, county of residence, and ballot position. As Dillard says, “Ultimately as a judge your job is a very simple one, it’s not always easy, but it’s to interpret the law. That’s your role.”

Despite their ostensibly nonpartisan structure, recent elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court have proven as bitter and heated as any political contest in memory. When then-Justice Louis Butler ran for re-election in 2008, he was defeated by challenger Michael Gableman, who led a multi-million dollar smear campaign that distorted Butler’s record.

This year’s contest, which sees self-described conservative Justice David Prosser up for re-election, is expected to be just as contentious. Wisconsin’s labor unions are making plans to oust Justice Prosser, as part of a planned push back against the recent passage of a bill stripping public unions of their collective bargaining rights.

Prosser’s opponent, former prosecutor JoAnne Kloppenburg, has received praise for her politically independent stance. Unfortunately, the intentions of the candidate often mean very little when races can be influenced by political party and interest group spending that’s completely out of their control. In the 2008 race, outside groups out-spent the candidates by almost 11 to 1, a margin which even alarmed the candidates themselves.

No matter how apolitical Kloppenburg remains, the unfolding narrative of the election is already becoming clear. The unions and the political left are promoting Kloppenburg as a weapon against the policies of Governor Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled state legislature. The pretense of nonpartisan elections has never been less accurate. Whatever your political views, the judiciary is diminished whenever a judicial contest is decided not on the qualifications and ability of the judges in question, but by political expedience and campaign spending.

An article in Wednesday’s St. Petersburg Times describes two judicial races where the campaign rhetoric is getting partisan – and personal – fast. While these races are supposed to be nonpartisan, personal attacks and statements about political leanings are raising eyebrows, as well as questions about how far candidates in these races can go when trying to sour voters’ opinions of their opponents.

When judges have to conduct (or endure) negative campaigns, politics becomes the focus. It discourages otherwise qualified candidates from running if they don’t have the connections and funds to run a strong political campaign. The message is clear. To be a judge, you also have to be a skilled politician.

Merit Selection relieves judicial candidates from the burden of campaigning. It lets judges be judges, by shifting the focus  back to each candidate’s abilities and qualifications. No plan for judicial selection can eliminate politics from the process, but we can prevent it from being a job requirement for a seat on the appellate bench in Pennsylvania.