COURTING MY VOTE
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is heading “The O’Connor Judicial Selection Initiative,” created, staffed and funded by the University of Denver-based Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, in an effort to persuade states to choose judges by merit selection and not by election. According to the institute, 23 states and the District of Columbia have a commission-based system for at least some of their judges. No state has shifted to an appointive system in 15 years.
In announcing the formation of the eponymous group, O’Connor expressed her concern that judicial elections lead to both a loss of judicial independence and a loss of public confidence in the court system, “Studies show that roughly 70% of the public believe judges are influenced by campaign contributions, and more than one quarter of judges agree. This is alarming because the legitimacy of the judiciary rests entirely on its promise to be fair and impartial. A judge’s sole constituency should be the law. If the public loses faith in that impartiality, then there is no reason to prefer the judge’s interpretation of the law to the opinions of the real politicians representing the electorate.”
I am not for merit selection because it takes away my right as a citizen to decide who will best represent me in the Judicial branch of government. The members of the Executive and Legislative branches of government are voted on by citizens and so should the Judicial branch members. With Merit Selection, Judges will be picked by the very same politicians that are already being influenced by campaign contributions. At least if I am able to vote for a Judge, then it is my sole choice. With Merit Selection, if the party in power is the Democratic Party, then Judges selected will be those people that are in agreement with that Party’s platform; not necessarily what the general public’s platform is.
In researching the types of Judges in Illinois, the numbers were staggering. There are Supreme Court Justices, Circuit Court Judges, Appellate Court Judges, Chancery Court Judges, Civil Appeals Judges, Criminal Judges, Child Protection Judges, and Child Support
Probate Judges, Domestic Relations Judges, Juvenile Judges, Traffic Judges, Law Judges, Probate Judges and Judges that I have not named. Do I understand exactly what they do? No! But when a Circuit Court Judge slot is up for vote, I do research before I make a decision and pull the lever.
If a citizen can educate themselves to decide who to vote for as President of the United States, why shouldn’t they be able to educate themselves on selecting a Judge?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform issued a report last October warning that some state judicial selection programs “have been criticized for the absence of public input into the process, lack of transparency, secretiveness in their procedures and the political cronyism that can occur when commissions and the governor operate in what is essentially a closed system.”
When Jesus said “Physician, heal thyself,” he meant that one should attend to one's own defects, rather than criticizing defects in others. That is what O’Connor is doing in saying that citizens are defective and do not have the ability to decide who can serve as a Judge. I say, “Justice, heal thyself,” and don’t take away my right to vote.
Blog Officer Deb writes:
ReplyDelete"Liked your commentary on the judge voting . . like the politicians would do a better job than the voters! . .
I thought we lived in a democracy. Totally agree with you Kathy...again.
ReplyDeleteBlog Follower Bob M wrote:
ReplyDelete" You fail to understand the court system of Illinois. We have a Supreme Court and five appellate court districts, each with a multiple number of judges, depending on population. Below the Appellate are the circuit courts. Illinois has 19 circuits. One circuit is Cook County. The other 18 circuits are comprised of two or more counties. (There are 102 counties in Illinois, second in number only to Texas.) Because Cook County is so large, it was determined in 1970 that Cook County would elect three Supreme Court judges and the rest of the state was divided into four districts, each electing one SC judge.
As to the other judges you mention, they serve in DIVISIONS of the Circuit Court. The divisions were created for the convenience of everyone involved, allowing judges who sit in a division to become expert in the law pertaining to that division, and providing courts for lawyers practicing particular specialties to appear before judges who may be more familiar with that part of law than are federal (all appointed) judges. Federal judges are generalists and may hear a criminal case followed by a contract case followed by a constitutional rights case, etc.
As the court dockets have become more crowded over the years, the General Assembly has added judges. Cook County, I believe, has 236 judges, each qualified merely by being elected (or appointed) to the judiciary to hear any case of any type. This is similar to medicine where any graduate of an accredited medical school and who has passed the licensing test, to be called a physician and surgeon, with the LEGAL authority to practice pediatrics, geriatrics, neuro-surgery, dermatology or anything else in medicine; but through internships which expose them to everything and residencies that narrow their fields, most of them specialize and we are happy to have a specialist care for us. We should be just as happy to have a judge who is a specialist hear our case.
As to the election issue, when the Illinois Constitution of 1970 was put before the voters, whether to have an elected judiciary was one of four options. Elected judges held sway Downstate but Cook County voted overwhelmingly for appointed judges.
The logic of the day is simple. Downstaters, living in communities much smaller than Chicago and Cook County, felt and perhaps still feel that they really know the candidates for judge in their communities. Here, with 236 Circuit Court judges, it is impossible to know much about any candidate. There was one failed effort to separate Cook County from the rest of the state for the purpose of selecting judges. I prefer an appointed judiciary, based on the Missouri (commission) model (the first in the nation, adopted in 1941), certainly for Cook County, WITH THE PROVISO that appointed judges would have to stand for RETENTION every six or ten years, as do once-elected Illinois Circuit and Appellate judges now.
The federal judiciary always has been appointed. There is a de facto commission system used by many senators who, in practice, "recommend" candidates whom the President appoints to sit in courts in these senators' states. Illinois' senators, of both parties, have used this system for as long as I can remember. As to the answerability of federal judges, my recollection is that only five have been impeached. 'Nuf said (for now)."