News
Arizona
House panel OKs raising number of candidates for judge openings
February 21, 2013 :: Arizona Daily Star
PHOENIX - State lawmakers launched what could be considered an end-run of last year's voter rejection of a change in how judges are selected. On a 6-1 margin Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would require the governor be given at least five names from which to pick...
Florida
League of Women Voters says House bill would undermine judicial merit selection process
March 28, 2013 :: SaintPetersBlog.com
In a call with media, the League of Women Voters of Florida alerted Floridians to a legislative proposal it says would further weaken the firewall intended to shield the judicial branch from political influence. According to the League, every session since 2011 some form of legislation has surfaced that seeks...
Florida House Democrats decry 'court stacking' motives in judicial nominating commission bill
February 20, 2013 :: News Service of Florida
Under Florida law, when the governor chooses a judge to fill a vacancy on the circuit or county bench, one of the district courts of appeal or the Supreme Court, he chooses from a list sent to him by a judicial nominating commission.
Georgia
Georgia bill would create a merit-selection style panel for interim vacancies; gives 18 of 23 seats
January 11, 2013 :: Gavel to Gavel
Yesterday I noted that the Virginia Senate is considering changing, but not eliminating, the power of that state s governor with respect to some interim appointments. Georgia s HB 30 of 2013 would take it one step further and set up a merit-selection style commission for interim appellate vacancies, but...
Illinois
Our View: Choosing merit
February 15, 2013 :: Lake County New-Sun
This page long has called for merit selection of judges and the lamentable case of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Brim is a poster girl for choosing Illinois judiciary based on merit, not political party. Brim, who has been on the bench since 1994 despite suffering from a serious...
Indiana
Legislators messing with merit selection
April 3, 2013 :: The South Bend Tribune
Indiana's General Assembly members occasionally just can't leave a good thing be. St. Joseph County's merit selection process for Superior Court judges is a case in point. State Rep. Tim Wesco, R-Osceola, on Monday offered a last-minute amendment to Senate Bill 518 that proposed to replace the current merit system...
High court names Lake Juvenile Court caretaker
March 22, 2013 :: CrownPointCommunity.com
CROWN POINT | A veteran Northwest Indiana judge will serve as caretaker of the Lake juvenile justice complex, while the rest of the county's judiciary does battle for permanent control of that court. The Indiana Supreme Court on Friday named Senior Judge Thomas W. Webber Sr. to serve as the...
Legislation on judicial nominating commission members moves to House
February 15, 2013 :: The Indiana Lawyer
A bill that would require the governor to appoint nonattorney members to the Judicial Nominating Commission from a list of legislator-approved candidates passed the Senate 46-2 Thursday. Sen. Brent Steele s legislation, Senate Bill 103, requires that the governor choose one nonattorney candidate from a list submitted by the president...
Iowa
Our View: Seeking justice, not politics, in judicial process
February 11, 2013 :: Press-Citizen
The Register editorial: Was makeup of judicial nominating commission by coincidence or design?
February 4, 2013 :: The Des Moines Register
Kansas
Kan. court plan founders; backer faces allegation
May 14, 2013 :: The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. -- A plan to change how Kansas fills vacancies on its two highest courts foundered Tuesday when the Kansas Bar Association's board decided to oppose it. Meanwhile, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss accused Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, a key legislative backer of the proposal,...
Chief justice denounces pay-to-play reform measure
May 14, 2013 :: The Topeka Capital Journal
The Kansas Supreme Court's chief justice sent a letter to the state's judges Tuesday condemning as distasteful and unacceptable an influential senator's attempt to make courts funding contingent upon judicial groups getting behind a proposal to change the way Supreme Court justices are selected. Chief Justice Lawton Nuss wrote that...
New Senate plan for Kansas judiciary emerges
May 14, 2013 :: The Associated Press
TOPEKA Legislators who believe the Kansas Senate should have the power to confirm appellate court judges, including Supreme Court justices, have a new plan that they hope will get approved before lawmakers adjourn this year, an influential senator involved in drafting the measure said Monday. Many legislators, particularly conservative Republicans,...
Kansas judicial selection issue part of national trend
May 11, 2013 :: The Associated Press
Renewed legislative efforts to change the way Kansas selects members for its highest courts are part of a recent wave of modifications sought nationwide to alter the composition of the state s judicial branch. Despite resistance this legislative session against altering the system, supporters of the idea said Friday momentum...
Kansas lawmakers shift plan to change judge selections Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/20
March 28, 2013 :: The Kansas City Star
TOPEKA Lawmakers are trying out an easier way than a constitutional amendment to change how judges are picked in Kansas. The Kansas House on Thursday tentatively agreed to a bill giving the governor the ability to select judges for the state Court of Appeals with Senate confirmation. It s a...
Brownback signs legislation to reform judicial selection
March 27, 2013 :: The Topeka Capital Journal
Gov. Sam Brownback signed legislation Wednesday granting Kansas governors greater influence over selection of judges to serve on the Kansas Court of Appeals. Brownback said adoption of the federal model of executive appointment and Senate confirmation would move Kansas away from a flawed system whereby a nominating commission dominated by...
Brownback to sign judicial selection bill
March 26, 2013 :: The Topeka Capital Journal
Gov. Sam Brownback plans to sign a bill Wednesday amending state law to grant governors more authority over appointment of judges to the Kansas Court of Appeals. Brownback, a Topeka Republican, made removal of the state's judicial nominating commission a priority of the 2013 session. The current system requires a...
Kansas: Move against Merit Selection passes Senate, proceeds to House
February 1, 2013 :: Judges on Merit
Capital Journal and Wichita, Kansas Eagle. discussed the movement in the Kansas legislature to try to abandon the Merit Selection system currently in place in the state in favor of a Federal-style appointment process where the governor has far more discretion in selecting judges.
Kansas Senate Overwhelmingly Supports Judicial Selection Reform
February 1, 2013 :: the National Review
Great news out of Kansas. The Kansas senate overwhelmingly passed judicial selectionreforms on Wednesday. The constitutional amendment, required for the Kansas supreme court reforms, passed with a 28-12 vote, while the Senate Bill 8, required for the Kansas Court of Appeals reforms, passed with a 29 11 vote, with one...
GUEST COLUMN: Courts’ merit selection prevents ‘zoo’
January 30, 2013 :: The Morning Sun
As most Kansans are by now aware, Gov. Brownback and certain legislators are attempting to change the way appellate court judges are selected. The present method is termed merit selection and has existed since 1958. Under the merit selection method, all applicants are thoroughly interviewed and vetted by a nonpartisan...
Senate passes overhaul of appellate court selection
January 30, 2013 :: The Capital Journal
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill and constitutional amendment Wednesday granting the governor more power in appointment of judges to the Kansas Court of Appeals and justices to the Kansas Supreme Court. Gov. Sam Brownback is the leading proponent of a reform movement to eliminate the existing system requiring a...
Kansas GOP's push to change judicial selection meets resistance
January 27, 2013 :: The Associated Press
Conservative Republican legislators are pushing aggressively for an overhaul of how Kansas fills vacancies on its two highest courts, but they face significant obstacles in getting a proposed amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. Some GOP lawmakers have argued for almost a decade that the current system of...
Kansas House panel endorses change in judicial selection
January 23, 2013 :: The Kansas City Star
A Kansas House committee has endorsed a proposed change in the state constitution to give the governor and legislators more power over appellate court appointments. The measure advanced Wednesday by the Judiciary Committee would allow governors to name whomever they want to fill vacancies on the state Court of Appeals...
Kan. judicial panel members criticize selection method, 1 sees bias against conservatives
January 22, 2013 :: The Republic
TOPEKA, Kansas The state's judicial nominating commission was biased against conservative candidates for the Kansas Court of Appeals and finally nominated one in an effort to appease legislators trying to change the selection process, a commission member said Tuesday. In a rare move, two commission members publicly criticized the nominating...
House member: Judicial selection poll not unbiased
January 21, 2013 :: The Topeka Capital Journal
A prominent Republican House member questions the credibility of a Washington, D.C., group whose poll on Kansas judicial selection has been held up as evidence that the current system of selecting state judges shouldn t change. Frustrated by school finance decisions in which they believe the courts have exceeded their...
Minnesota
Senate approves judicial selection amendment
February 21, 2013 :: The Leaf Chronicle
New Jersey
Standoffs over New Jersey judicial nominations could sully court's reputation
March 25, 2013 :: Philadelphia Inquirer
The New Jersey Supreme Court, once viewed as a bastion of independent, if liberal, jurisprudence, risks a sharply diminished reputation if political battles over filling its empty seats are not quickly resolved, legal experts and court-reform advocates say. The immediate issue facing the court is the maneuvering between Gov. Christie...
Ohio
Richard Rogovin commentary: Retention ballot would improve election of judges
March 27, 2013 :: The Columbus Dispatch
After 45 years of practicing law, I believe that the way we elect judges has to be changed. Many voters have no idea who the candidates are until the television ads start running. That s when they start paying attention, but the information in sound bites, prominent displays of electable...
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Senate approves judicial reform, school safety measures Read more from this Tulsa World ar
March 14, 2013 :: Tulsa World
OKLAHOMA CITY - The state Senate on Wednesday passed an array of measures involving judges and school safety. One measure, Senate Joint Resolution 21, would let voters decide to give the governor and Senate more control of the selection of judges. Applications for judicial vacancies now go to the Judicial...
Pennsylvania
Costa forms a wish list for state Supreme Court nominee Read more: http://triblive.com/state/pennsy
May 10, 2013 :: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
HARRISBURG Senate Democrats would consider a Pennsylvania Supreme Court nominee from Republican Gov. Tom Corbett who is nonpartisan and non-ideological and vows not to seek election to the seat in 2016, said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa. We would like to see a person who would render decisions based upon...
Our View: Merit selection for judges merits study
April 3, 2013 :: Erie-Times News
Do you recognize the names of Ronald D. Castile, Thomas G. Saylor, J. Michael Eakin, Max Baer, Debra McCloskey Todd or Seamus P. McCaffery? All six serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They were elected by voters who also choose the 15 judges on the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the...
Some pour cold water on idea to appoint state judges
March 31, 2013 :: witf.org
Legal observers are split on the idea of changing the way state appellate court judges are chosen. Reformers are calling for scrapping partisan elections in favor of an appointment process, but others aren't so sure. Some state lawmakers and four former governors have lined up to support the so-called merit...
Nothing could be further from the truth, and there is ample evidence that appointment-based systems
March 27, 2013 :: The Patriot News
In the last week, there's been another push to change the way Pennsylvania selects judges for the three appellate courts - Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme -- moving from direct election to an appointment system. Proponents argue a switch would take the politics out of the system by removing the need...
Editorial | Elections taint state judiciary
March 27, 2013 :: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sometimes, electing judges works just fine in particular, when it s to the county courts. But at the appeals-court level, that method is flawed. That s the wise opinion of four former Pennsylvania governors who want the state to switch from partisan judicial elections to appointing the state s appellate...
Replacement test for merit selection Governor to nominate interim justice on top court
March 27, 2013 :: The Times Tribune
Convicted Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin's resignation this week was an act of public service in several ways. The resignation, effective May 1, spared the Legislature, the judiciary, the public and herself from the ordeal of an impeachment proceeding. It also offered an early prospect for the end of...
Merit selection would rid judicial system of campaign corruption that brought down Melvin
March 25, 2013 :: The Patriot News
A statewide court reform group applauds Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin's decision to resign on May 1 and uses the justice s conviction on campaign corruption as a platform to call for merit selection of appellate court judges. Lynn Marks, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts,...
‘Merit selection’ for Pa. appellate judges? No, thank you Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/ed
March 24, 2013 :: Tribune-Review
Citing state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin's public-corruption conviction while advocating for a group called Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, four former governors' support for so-called merit selection of state appellate judges proves only that bad ideas know no partisan bounds. Their rationale for denying Pennsylvanians the right to choose...
Don't give up your right to elect judges
March 20, 2013 :: The Pocono Record
On Monday, three former Pennsylvania governors joined their considerable forces in a conference call aimed at ending your right to elect the state's top judges. Don't listen to them. Republicans Dick Thornburgh and Tom Ridge and Democrat Ed Rendell want the Pennsylvania governor to be able to select the judges...
Four former Pa. governors come out for judicial merit selection
March 18, 2013 :: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Pennsylvania is one of just a handful of states where residents elect all their judges in partisan elections - a system critics say has led judicial candidates to solicit big campaign donations from lawyers and special interests who could later appear in their courts. Over the years, various legislators have...
DN Editorial: Time to put merit selection of judges on the fast track
February 22, 2013 :: Philly.com
FORMER STATE Sen. Jane Orie, who is serving up to 10 years in prison, could soon be sharing a cell with two of her sisters. A jury Thursday convicted Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin and their sister, Janine, of multiple felony counts for theft of services and conspiracy to...
No merit in merit selection
February 18, 2013 :: The Tribune-Review
The trial of suspended state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin is being used to resurrect a bad idea turned down repeatedly by Pennsylvania legislators. Two state senators have introduced legislation to abolish judicial elections and replace them with a system known by its supporters as merit selection. But the...
Merit selection for statewide judicial seats long overdue
February 13, 2013 :: ReadingEagle.com
The Issue: A bill introduced in the state Senate would end contested elections for state appellate judges. Our Opinion: We support such a move but believe local jurists should continue to be elected by the people they serve. Legislation introduced by Democratic State Sen. Anthony H. Williams of Philadelphia and...
Let voters elect judges
February 1, 2013 :: Pocono Record
Lawmakers who want to end judicial elections in favor of appointing judges are on the wrong track. Citizens should retain their constitutional right to vote on who gets on the bench. Injecting partisan politics and back-door shenanigans into the process won't improve it. Bill sponsor Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, claims merit...
Pennsylvania bill would change how judges are chosen
January 25, 2013 :: Philly.com - The Inquirer
As jury selection began Wednesday in the corruption trial of suspended Pennsylvania Justice Joan Orie Melvin, proponents of judicial reform proposed a constitutional amendment that would end the current system of electing appellate judges and give the governor authority to appoint them. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Anthony H....
Rhode Island
Common Cause RI blasts Governor Chafee's judicial picks
May 10, 2013 :: The Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Common Cause Rhode Island Friday blasted Governor Chafee's judicial picks as evidence that the judicial nominating process is failing to ensure that judges are chosen on merit, not politics. He noted that successive governors have ignored the 21-day deadline for picking judges from lists provided by the...
Walsh Bill Would Require Merit Selection for Magistrates
January 17, 2013 :: Narragansett-Southkingstown Patch
Rep. Donna M. Walsh has submitted legislation to require merit selection and vetting by the Judicial Nominating Commission for magistrates in Rhode Island. Magistrates are court officers that generally preside over uncontested cases, though their duties vary from court to court. Currently, most of the 20 magistrates in Rhode Island...
South Carolina
Bill would expand lawmakers' choices for SC judges
January 25, 2013 :: MidlandsConnect.com
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A House panel has advanced a bill allowing the Legislature to choose South Carolina's judges from among all candidates deemed qualified for the job. The judiciary panel voted unanimously Thursday to no longer limit the Legislature to three candidates picked by a committee.
South Dakota
Bill gives lawmakers more say on judicial appointments
February 6, 2013 :: Rapid City Journal
PIERRE | The state Judicial Qualifications Commission would be expanded to nine members by adding two members who would be appointed by the Legislature s leaders under a measure that received unanimous approval Wednesday by a legislative panel. The proposal represents a compromise, according to Sen. Corey Brown, R-Gettysburg. He...
Tennessee
Lawyers Overwhelmingly Support Tennessee Plan
March 26, 2013 :: The Tennessee Bar Association
NASHVILLE, March 26, 2013 Eighty-three percent of Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) members support maintaining the present plan for merit selection, performance evaluation and retention election of appellate judges, known as The Tennessee Plan, according to the TBA 2013 Member Survey. Non-member lawyers also surveyed by the group favor the present...
Tennessee House Passes Judicial-Selection Measure
March 15, 2013 :: the National Review
Earlier this week, by a vote of 78 14, the Tennessee house of representatives approved a constitutional amendment adopting a modified version of the federal method for selecting appellate judges. The amendment must now be approved by Tennessee voters on the November 2014 ballot. We are grateful to Governor Bill...
Tennessee Senate approves judicial selection amendment
February 21, 2013 :: Times Free Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. The Senate has approved a proposed constitutional amendment to give lawmakers the power to refuse the governor s appointments to appeals courts in Tennessee. The chamber voted 29-2 today in favor of the measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown. If the resolution passes the House...
Keep judge selection apolitical, save jobs
February 18, 2013 :: The Journal News
Tennessee Senate Votes on Judicial-Selection Amendment Next Week
February 14, 2013 :: the National Review
The Tennessee senate delayed a vote for one week early today on a constitutional amendment (SJR 2, nicknamed the Founders Plan ) which would abolish Tennessee s current method of judicial selection, the Missouri Plan. Instead, the state constitution would call for appointments by the governor with confirmation by the...
Texas
Legislative study could jump start judicial reform
March 26, 2013 :: mySA.com
Proponents of judicial reform haven't disappeared, but they don't appear particularly confident about success these days. In 2009, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson wrote a spirited commentary calling for a merit selection system of choosing judges with retention elections. In 2011, Jefferson cited the problems with judicial selection...
Virginia
Reform would select best qualified judges, not best connected
April 28, 2013 :: The Roanoke Times
Virginia, home of the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere and the mother of presidents, has a flawed process for selecting judges. Virginia is one of two states where election of the judiciary is entirely a legislative prerogative. While the process, by and large, has produced good judges, it...
Should Virginia move to a merit-based system of electing judges?
April 28, 2013 :: The Roanoke Times
The Virginia Constitution provides that the judges of all courts of record shall be chosen by the vote of a majority of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly. The responsibility to appoint the judges of the commonwealth is one of our most important duties as elected...