Litigation

Merit Selection Debated in 3 States

By Charlie Hall

Debates over media selection have attracted media attention in three states.

 An Austin American-statesman article says attempts to appoint judges face an uphill battle in Texas, despite support from state Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson. The article cites the state’s longstanding public support for electing judges, as well as fears by many special interests that they might lose out from the change.

 As Anthony Champagne, a University of Texas at Dallas political science professor, said: “If I were to handicap it, I would say that you are not going to get change in Texas. Often, the sense is it’s better not to change than to go into an unknown situation where your interests might get hurt.”

 In Missouri, the state Bar Association announced its opposition to plans to modify that state’s commission-based appointment system, according to an online article in MissouriNet. “”The Missouri Plan is alive and well. It has kept partisan politics out of the judicial selection process and we believe strongly that it should not be changed in any way,” Missouri Bar president Tom Burke told reporters.

A constitutional amendment recently backed by the state’s House would reduce the role of organized bar groups and give a greater role to the state’s lawmakers in choosing a nominating commission.

 And in Tennessee, an editorial in the Chattanooga Times Free Press opposed a plan by Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey to have the governor appoint appellate judges without any input from nominating commissions. The editorial added:

The Tennessee Plan, as it?s known, has much to recommend it. It (more…)

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).

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