The O’Connor Judicial Selection Initiative: Rule by Elites or Rule by People?
December 11, 2009
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has started a new, “nationwide” campaign – the O’Connor Judicial Selection Initiative at the University of Denver’s Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. The goal – surprise, surprise – is to abolish democratic elections for Supreme Court in states that still allow voters to choose judges and give that power to a panel of elites, typically controlled by lawyers. (More from the folks at Justice at Stake.)
O’Connor’s arguments were depressingly familiar:
- People are stupid … “A voter goes into the voting booth on Election Day, and they have a long list of races to vote for. When they come to the judges, they typically don’t know any of them. How are they supposed to decide?”
- Today’s judges are unqualified, unfair and partial … “What the people want and need at the end of the day is a fair and impartial judiciary, one that’s qualified, fair and impartial. It is almost impossible to get that by using popular campaign-funded elections.”
Of course, Justice O’Connor opposes the traditional democratic means for educating voters – i.e. having candidates actually speak to the people about their ideas and governing philosophies…that would sully the hands of the demi-gods who rule our courts. (To be fair, O’Connor does support the idea of having a group of lawyers evaluate a judge’s performance and then instruct people how to vote in meaningless retention elections.)
You’d also think that after casually slandering hundreds of sitting state Supreme Court justices, Justice O’Connor would provide us a list of all the judges who are not “qualified, fair and impartial.”
Really, though, it’s hard to blame Justice O’Connor for her views. I’m certain it’s extremely difficult for someone educated at one of the nation’s most prestigious law schools, who spent a long, honorable career at the highest levels of the judiciary, not to believe that she is more qualified than your average voter to determine who should sit on our courts. I’m ashamed to admit there are days when I feel that my humble political opinions should be given more weight than others’. In fact, it happens every time I watch Fox News or MSNBC.
But in my calmer moments, I’m content my vote counts for no more and no less than Justice O’Connor’s and millions of other American citizens. After all, isn’t the whole point of democracy a refutation of the notion that certain people enjoy a privileged role in choosing our leaders?
Posted by Dan Pero in the categories: Judicial Elections
One Response to “The O’Connor Judicial Selection Initiative: Rule by Elites or Rule by People?”
We are not “choosing our leaders”. These are judges we are talking about. When you select judges by popular election, you get politicians in robes. If that doesn’t send a chill through you, I don’t know what would.
It doesn’t matter which party you favor, picture yourself having been at the wrong place at the wrong time and facing charges that are not true but are politically charged. The judge for you case happens to have campaigned and won as a lion of the opposite party as you. Do you feel like justice will be served?
No other country in the world elects their judges. Of course, we are doing it right and the rest of the globe is wrong.
The judicial branch is meant to be insulated from the political atmosphere. Certain people have been pushing to politicize the judiciary with the explicit goal of achieving a political end. That is outright wrong, and it should be obvious.