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- Title
FINDERS KEEPERS: SELECTING AND RETAINING STATE JUDICIAL CANDIDATES.
- Authors
Edwards, Ashleigh
- Abstract
The recent public debate about judicial selection in the United States has focused primarily on the negative effects of electing our judges, yet most states continue to use some form of elections as part of their judicial selection or retention model. Critics of judicial elections point to the unfortunate influence that politics can have on judicial decision making, the unseemliness the political process imparts on the judicial institution, and the fact that voters are often unequipped to make informed decisions about judicial candidates at the ballot box. On the other hand, proponents of judicial elections focus on the important check elections place on the powerful judicial branch, and they emphasize the democratic benefit of electing the judges who make decisions that directly affect the public. This Comment dives into the debate. First, the Comment examines how states choose their judges, to reveal that, in practice, the distinction between elections and appointments is not as stark as it appears on first glance. Important to this discussion is the role elections play in the various retention models. Next the Comment asks the complex question: what qualities to we want from a judge? The Comment then describes how voters select judicial candidates, pointing out how voters' selection of judicial candidates differs from their selection of political candidates. Next, the Comment explores the role that money plays in judicial elections, with a review of post-Buckley campaign-finance decisions. The Comment then lays out the policy considerations attached to the various selection and retention models and reviews existing scholarship advocating for each model. It concludes by suggesting a new approach to judicial selection and retention.
- Subjects
UNITED States; JUDICIAL selection &; appointment; JUDICIAL elections; LAW &; politics -- Social aspects; JUDICIAL process; VOTER attitudes; POLITICAL candidates; UNITED States elections; CAMPAIGN funds; U.S. states; JUDICIAL process -- Social aspects; ACTIONS &; defenses (Law)
- Publication
Lewis & Clark Law Review, 2015, Vol 19, Issue 4, p1183
- ISSN
1557-6582
- Publication type
Article