Yes, Your Honor, I Did Vote for You

In a column in today's Charleston Gazette, state senator and attorney Larry Rowe argues against a "merit" selection system for judges in West Virginia. West Virginia elects all of its judges in full-bore partisan elections. They are, for the most part, incredibly useless.

Judicial codes of ethics prohibit judges from speaking out on cases that are currently in front of their court or may be in front of their court in the future. Well, that covers just about everything. That's good, because we don't want any judge to make up his mind about an issue before hearing evidence and arguments from both sides. But it makes for meaningless campaigns. Unlike legislators, whom we elect because they will do something for us, judges cannot make such promises. At least in WV we still have the party identifiers to go on (some states have "non-partisan" elections).

Rowe's main concern seems to be the excessive politicizing of the process which would be spurred by Senate confirmations. First, that ignores the fact that the process now is inherently politicized, as evidenced by the national power brokers getting set to wage an election battle over Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw. Second, while the US Senate certainly has its share of nasty political fights over judges (and presidential sidesteps), most nominations sail through with little or no controversy. Thus, it seems to me that any concern about excessive politics is misplaced.

Another concern voiced by Rowe is that the process, as proposed by one bill, would isolate the electorate from their local judges. I happen to think that can be a good thing, as the judge will feel less swayed by the passions of the public than by the facts and the law. However, there are other means of merit selection, such as retention elections after a certain period of time, that can allay any fears of a local disconnect.

I'll be the first one to recognize that a merit selection system doesn't take the politics completely out of the judicial system. The best we can hope is that judges who are insulated in some meaningful way from actively being politicians will be better judges. Federal judges, for the most part, show that to be true. It's time the people of WV got the same quality in their judicial system.