California’s Commission for Impartial Courts will hold its first public “fact-finding” hearing next week reports Legal Newsline. The commissioners will hear from Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer – a well-known opponent of democratic judicial elections – and view “horrifying” ads from judicial races around the country. Sounds like the “facts” have already been “found” and all that’s left is to figure out how better to insulate California judges from California citizens.

“The commission,” says commissioner and California Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin, “believes that courts should be accountable … to well-established codes of conduct that require them to follow the law and the Constitution.” Of course everyone wants judges to follow appropriate codes of judicial conduct and uphold state constitutions. But let’s hope the commissioners remember that quaint old democratic notion that judges – like all other public servants – must also be accountable to the people.