Americans Want To Elect Their Judges
October 23, 2008
Be careful what you poll for, you just might have to publicize it.
The American Bar Association has lately been pushing a proposal to allow a disinterested, non-partisan professional organization to run a “merit selection” board that would essentially fulfill the Constitutional responsibility of the President of the United States in naming judges. What is the name of this august organization willing to take on this awesome responsibility?
Why, it just happens to be the American Bar Association.
To bolster their overall merit-selection position for the states as well as the federal government, ABA hired the Harris Poll to conduct a nationwide survey of 2,315 U.S. adults. The results were fascinating.
A plurality of Americans, 43%, say state judges should be selected in non-partisan elections. Twelve percent believe partisan elections are correct. That’s a 55% majority in favor of judicial elections. Only 19% believed in some form of “merit selection.” This concurs with a poll the American Justice Partnership Foundation (AJPF) released this summer showing a large majority, 75%, in favor of electing state Supreme Court judges. (I’m the President of AJPF.) AJPF’s number of those who favor merit selection—21%—is very close to the ABA’s finding, validating both polls.
Posted by Dan Pero in the categories: Judicial Elections
One Response to “Americans Want To Elect Their Judges”
[...] Court judges should be elected and only 21% supported so-called “merit” selection. Even a poll released by the staunches of “merit” selection supporters – the American Bar Association – [...]