Litigation

O?Connor to Press for Merit Selection in Nevada

By Peter Hardin

Big names led by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor are backing a push for merit selection of judges in Nevada.

That’s despite a recent poll reporting that 54 percent of voters said they would vote “no” in November, Jane Ann Morrison writes in a Las Vegas Review-Journal column, the second of her recent commentaries about the merit selection proposal.

Justice O’Connor has championed merit selection in states around the country since her retirement from the court, and she has agreed to be honorary chairwoman of the drive in Nevada.

This selection approach combining appointment and retention (up-or-down) elections for judges is not perfect, Justice O’Connor has said in speeches, but it works better than the alternative, it helps to preserve judicial independence and for the most part, to shield the courts from politics.

One chief concern of opponents is a contention they would give up their right to vote to choose judges. “The truth is, in those states that elect judges, candidates often run unopposed, so voters are left with no options,” she has written.

Nevadans for Qualified Judges hopes to raise as much as $700,000 for a campaign to win voter support. Its co-chairs are  former Nevada Supreme Court Justice Bill Maupin, state Sen. Bill Raggio and developer Irwin Molasky. Justice O’Connor will not participate in the fundraising.

Morrison concludes about prospects for the merit-based ballot question in November, “I wouldn’t write off SJR2 quite yet.” You can learn more about the merit proposal from Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on July 26, 2010 (boomark / email).