Litigation

Post, Free Press Cite ?New Politics? Report

By Charlie Hall

The first comprehensive national study of spending on judicial elections in the 2000-2009 decade continues to be cited. Today, major editorials in The Washington Post and Detroit Free Press cited “The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009: Decade of Change.”

Last week, the report was cited in a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, as well as reports in The Washington Post, National Public Radio, and numerous regional newspapers and radio programs.

Today’s Washington Post editorial, titled “Judges for Sale,” decries “the increased politicization of the judicial selections process” and proposes merit selection as the best reform for decreasing the impact of special interests on the courts. The editorial concluded by noting the special, impartial role of courts in our democracy:

“Unlike lawmakers, judges must never have agendas or special loyalties to anything other than the rule of law. … Allowing would-be judges to beg for cash and to make campaign promises about how they will decide cases tarnishes an institution that must be above reproach.”

The Free Press editorial, “Appoint, not elect, Michigan judges,” said bluntly:

“Justice is for sale in Michigan. … If the deep-pocket interests spending that money (organized labor, business and others with private hopes and aspirations for the judiciary) didn’t think they were getting something from the courts in return, well, they wouldn’t spend it, would they?”

The New Politics report also was cited in editorials by the Chicago Sun Times and the Scranton Times Tribune, which all called for various reforms in how judges are chosen.  And it was the basis of a Free Press column by Ron Dzwonkowski.

“The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009: Decade of Change,” with a foreword from retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, showed that high court candidates raised $206.9 million in 2000-2009, more than double the $83.3 million raised in the 1990s. The first national study of judicial spending in the 2000-2009 decade was written by Justice at Stake, the Brennan Center for Justice, the National Institute on Money in State Politics and Hofstra University law professor James Sample.

To learn more, see Justice at Stake’s online resource page, or see this earlier Gavel Grab posting.

Full post as published by The Gavel on August 23, 2010 (boomark / email).