The right of Pennsylvania citizens to vote for state judges is safe – at least for now. Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts issued a press release yesterday acknowledging that “it is too late to pass a constitutional amendment” to abolish democratic judicial elections this year.

The group is funded in part by hedgefund billionaire George Soros, who is funneling millions of dollars through his Open Society Institute to fundamentally change the way judges are selected in states across America.  In Pennsylvania, opponents of democratic elections are pushing a plan that would create an unelected, unaccountable commission, comprised mainly of lawyers, that would control who sits on the bench.  Under this scheme, voters would lose their constitutional right to choose judges; instead they would only be allowed to vote “yes” or “no” on whether a judge should keep his/her job after the judge serves a full ten-year term.  Several states that have experimented with this undemocratic system are reconsidering:

• In Tennessee, the state legislature recently failed to reauthorize the state’s judicial nominating commission, which will sunset after one year unless the legislature acts.  Lobbyists for legal special interests blocked key reform proposals by Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen and Republican Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey to make the commission more transparent and accountable.  

 

• In Missouri, Governor Blunt fought to reform the state’s judicial nominating commission after it kept resending him the same list of judicial candidates he previously rejected because they did not reflect the values of the voters who elected him. 

 

• In Kansas, Johnson County citizens will have the opportunity to vote in November to reestablish democratic election of judges and end the current process where judges are selected in secret by an unaccountable commission.