Litigation

Not Ready to Import Judicial Elections

By Alexandra Saaverda

Australia’s chief justice said that  although his country can improve its process of judicial appointments, America should not be its role model,  according to an article in an Australian publication.

Robert French,  high court chief justice, said that judicial elections, the model used in many U.S. states, could become “not only blatantly political contests between partisan judges, but also financial contests.”  

Drawing on two cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, French says that the Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2002) and the recent Caperton v. Massey case “demonstrate powerfully why we should not have elected judges.”

To read more on the topic of judicial elections, see past GavelGrab blogs.

Full post as published by The Gavel on July 09, 2009 (boomark / email).