With another election day almost upon us, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law has produced a splendid white paper and  proposal entitled “Choosing State Judges: A Plan for Reform.” The Brennan Center is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on the fundamental issues of democracy and justice.

According to the Center’s most recent research, “million-dollar campaigns for state supreme court seats are fast becoming the national norm. Dark, untraceable funds are flooding judicial races, and national political groups and business interests regularly pour money into these campaigns. Brennan Center research shows that one-third of all elected state justices have been through at least one million-dollar race, and 90 percent of voters believe campaign cash affects judicial decision making.”

Of course none of this should be news to the informed citizen. Here are the bottom line proposals, after three years of research:

• The 38 states that have elections or retention elections for state supreme court justices should eliminate them.
• States should adopt a publicly accountable appointment process where an independent, bipartisan commission vets candidates and creates a shortlist for appointment by the governor.
• Those commissions should have transparent procedures and clear criteria for vetting candidates, and their membership should be bipartisan, appointed by diverse stakeholders, and include non-lawyers.
• State justices should serve for a single, lengthy term rather than face elections or a political reappointment process to retain their seats.

When Ted Strickland was governor, he did use a bi-partisan commission known as the Ohio Judicial Appointments Recommendation Panel to make recommendations to fill judicial vacancies, and it was a very transparent process. I was fortunate to have chaired one of the two panels for a couple years and was impressed with its openness and the quality of applicants who might not otherwise have applied if politics-as-usual was the only selection criterion. I was also impressed with the diversity on the panels, which included lay persons as well as lawyers.

The Brennan Center report is excellent—thorough, thought-provoking, and well researched. Please read the entire thing.

https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/2018_09_JudicialSelection.pdf

Meanwhile, here in Ohio, information on candidates for judgeships is available at Judicial Votes Count.