“Merit” Selection Proponents Release New Report
August 16, 2010
This morning, National Public Radio reported on the latest study issued from the George Soros-backed “merit” selection movement. The report, authored by Justice At Stake, the Brennan Center, the National Institute on Money in State Politics, and a Hofstra University law professor, purports to document an “explosion” in state judical campaign spending - some $200+ million all told.
And is all of this unseemly campaign spending actually influencing legal rulings and judicial behavior? Well, no actual evidence of that, just poll numbers and concerns about “appearance” problems.
In fact, when Lancaster Online examined 82 recent cases in Pennsylvania courts (h/t Judges On Merit) and compared the outcomes in those cases to judicial campaign contributions, the article’s subhead said it all: ”There’s no evidence [that] money influences decisions of state Supreme Court justices.” Rachel Caulfield of the American Judicature Society is quoted in the article saying,
“I haven’t seen any successful effort to link contributions to decision-making.”
Of course, the Justice At Stake crowd doesn’t let such pesky details detract from their efforts to end all democratic state judicial elections. Why wait for hard evidence before re-writing state constitutions and scrapping elections?
I’ll be reviewing the new study and posting analysis of this latest report in the weeks ahead.