If you are going to engage in judicial overreaching, why not reach for it all?
The “merit-selection” movement has now entered its inevitable new phase. In a stunning rejection of more than two centuries of Constitutional advice and consent, the American Bar Association is touting a proposal that would institutionalize the role of home-state senators […]
Opponents of democratic judicial elections seem worried about a new American Justice Partnership Foundation poll that revealed an overwhelming 75% of Americans believe state judges should be elected. They know they’ve got a losing hand and can’t attack the results – so they attack the poll and the pollster.
I’ve already responded to the personal […]
The Chicago Tribune had a thumbsucker over the weekend on the politicization of America’s judiciary that pushed the usual storyline: Americans are “largely clueless” about the judiciary, providing an opening for “special interest lobbies” to have undue influence over the judicial selection process. The recent election defeat of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis […]
On July 15, we posted the results of a public opinion survey commissioned by the American Justice Partnership Foundation which revealed that an overwhelming 75% of Americans believe state Supreme Court justices should be elected by the people.
Today, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts – a group funded by George Soros which is fighting to take away […]
The special-interest apologists who argue for the “merit-selection” of judges often pose as promoters of independence, fair-mindedness and objectivity. Frequently, a friendly journalist takes their bait, not noticing the hook stuck in his mouth.
The latest such journalist is Nathan Bowe of the Detroit Lakes Tribune (MN) in his coverage of a proposal by the Minnesota […]
Legal reporter L.L. Brasier of The Detroit Free Press had a hand-wringer yesterday about campaign spending among candidates for Michigan’s 6th Circuit Court judicial race. The article frets that this year’s race could be one of the “most contested … in Oakland County history.” Funny, but I thought competition among candidates was […]
Justice at Stake – the group bankrolled by billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros – has taken its campaign to elbow voters out of judicial elections to Ohio.
The Missouri House voted yesterday to keep intact the state’s judicial selection Star Chamber – where lawyers meet behind closed doors to pick judges.
That means – at least for now – judicial selection in Missouri will remain in the hands of the state’s trial bar. Of the seven members of Missouri’s Appellate Judicial Commission, […]
Even the venerable Economist can fall prey to some Justice At Stake propaganda. In its latest issue, The Economist denounced American judicial elections as prone to “unbecoming hoopla.” With typical Economist wit, it looked at the political ads in some of these races as so much Habeas circus, and wondered why we Yanks […]
Who awards blue ribbons? And where can we get one?
The AP reports that a “blue-ribbon panel” in Carson City, Nevada, voted 18 to 2 to place before Nevada voters in 2010 a constitutional change to scrap the direct election of judges with a political selection process.
Similar plans have been put before the voters and […]
