judgesonmerit.org

Last week, former United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor joined members of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and South Carolina Women Lawyers Association for dinner and discussion. As the Briefcase (the blog of the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association) reports, there was a wide-ranging discussion, including Justice O’Connor’s criticism of judicial elections.  During the question and answer period, Justice O’Connor offered more straight talk on judicial selection:

Question 3. A request from a lawyer in the Charlotte area for advice on how to change a system of judicial elections to merit selection.

“Put together some citizens, preferably some with some clout,” Justice O’Connor said. Voters want to keep their right to vote, and they can, in a system of merit selection plus retention elections. “Get judges in there and see how they do. If you don’t like them, vote them out,” she said. “That’s how you sell it.”

That makes sense to us.  Retention is a key part of the currently pending Merit Selection proposals in Pennsylvania for just that reason. Thanks, Justice O’Connor.