Justice O’Connor Comes Out Against Secret Selection of Judges
March 2, 2009
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told a group of Missouri law students that the state’s judicial nominating commission should no longer be allowed to meet in secret – endorsing a key provision of legislation moving through the Missouri Legislature that would reform the state’s “merit” selection system:
“You can’t have secret proceedings.”
Justice O’Connor admitted, however, that even though her home state of Arizona has open judicial selection meetings, interest in the judicial selection process seems confined to the legal community. Perhaps allowing voters to press their noses against the glass window while a group of lawyers decides who will control one-third of a state’s government just isn’t enough. That’s why the Missouri reform legislation goes further by diluting the influence of special legal interest groups in the judicial selection process and making the process more accountable. No word in the media reports on whether Justice O’Connor supports these steps as well.
Of course, the real answer to making judicial selection more open and accountable is to give the power to choose judges back to the people, through democratic elections. Justice O’Connor opposes judicial elections because fundraising in these races has risen to what she calls “obscene” levels. But this is a criticism that can be applied to all campaigns – including the Obama campaign, which spent an astounding $750 million-plus to win the White House. If campaign cash is poisoning judicial selection, should U.S. Senators who accept money from Trial Lawyers, Inc. be prohibited from voting on nominees to the federal bench?