Rolling Out The Big Guns in Nevada
July 28, 2010
Another column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal by Jane Ann Morrison, this time announcing that former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (surprise!) will be using “her powers of persuasion to help convince Nevadans this change [merit selection] could improve the quality of Nevada judges.”
How will “merit” selection improve the quality of judges? Because, instead of voters picking judges through democratic elections, “a commission of judges, lawyers and lay people” will do the job for them! The idea that lawyers are more qualified to select judges than ordinary citizens is one of the primary conceits of the “merit” selection campaign, but most proponents are too embarrassed to say it outright. Either Morrison didn’t get the talking points or she’s just brutally honest.
She’s less forthcoming, however, when it comes to explaining why she believes lawyers deserve a privileged place when it comes to choosing our public servants on the bench. Our courts, after all, don’t just serve lawyers – they serve the people. The decisions judges make impact not just the legal community, but police officers, doctors, accountants, teachers, construction workers, plumbers. Why should these worthy citizens be shut out of the process?
Does Morrison believe lawyers have some specialized, insider knowledge that makes them more qualified than ordinary people? I ran a presidential campaign (Lamar Alexander ’96), so maybe campaign consultants should have more power to choose who will occupy the White House. Or why not turn the job over to a committee comprised of the 15 most illustrious political science professors? What about allowing a committee of teachers to select school board members rather than parents and other voters? It’s all absurd, of course, but no more absurd than suggesting that lawyers are more qualified to choose judges.
Morrison is also surprisingly (or naively?) candid about how the “merit” selection campaign is going to be funded: with big $$$ from lawyers themselves. According to Morrison:
“Polling shows the majority of attorneys prefer merit selection. Let’s see if they respond to the fundraising letter mailed Monday to every member of the State Bar of Nevada.”
The notion that the ignorant masses should turn over their democratic right to choose their rulers to a small group of elites has always been one of the least appealing aspects of the “merit” selection campaign. Let’s hope Nevada voters see through Justice O’Connor’s “powers of persuasion” and the big bucks supplied by legal elites and decide that they’re still qualified to pick their own judges.