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 […]
Opponents of state judicial elections can often accomplish the trick of sounding high-minded while opposing democracy. They have a point of sorts—if all the noise and heat of a political campaign strikes you as beneath the dignity of the American people. To the rest of us, it looks like the raucous political dialogue of a […]
In a contest of fact versus fiction, fiction has lately been getting the upper hand.
You can see this in movies - the latest example being Michael Clayton in which trial lawyers are portrayed as Don Quixotes jousting with evil corporations. A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed took John Grisham to task for The Appeal, a novel that picks […]
