Does “Merit Selection” Take Politics Out Of Judicial Selection? Not In Tennessee
May 5, 2008
An editorial in today’s Commercial Appeal calls for reforming Tennessee’s judicial selection process. Mixed in with a reform proposal is strong criticism of the current “merit selection” commission.
(Hat tip to Post Politics).
Money quote:
In theory, the (judicial selection) commission’s involvement is supposed to take politics out of the process. The reality can be quite different. The commissioners can have their own political agendas, but unlike the governor, they’re not directly accountable to the voters.
When Supreme Court Justice Adolpho Birch retired, for example, it took 10 months of wrangling before Gov. Phil Bredesen picked a replacement. It took so long because the commission, rather than nominating several strong candidates without showing a preference for any of them, appeared to be trying to politically coerce Bredesen into picking one particular candidate.
Posted by Dan Pero in the categories: Judicial Elections, State Battlegrounds, Tennessee
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