The Wisconsin Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments regarding a probe into whether or not Republican candidates “coordinated” with special interest group donors during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections.
Two of the groups being investigated, Wisconsin Club for Growth and Citizens for a Strong America, are large donors to several of the Justice’s campaigns. In 2011 Justice Prosser received over $1 million in campaign donations from the two groups, dwarfing his own $700,000 personal contribution. The two organizations also helped elect four other Justices to the Supreme Court. Under Wisconsin law, the Justices are not mandated to recuse themselves from cases involving their own donors. Additionally, the secretive nature of the John Doe case means that we may not immediately know how the judges rule in the case.
So, what’s the big deal? What is happening in Wisconsin is just another example of money corrupting the judicial selection process. Currently judicial elections depend upon financial contribution from donors, including lawyers, law firms and interests that have business before the court, to have any chance at being elected. This is not to say that judges rule in line with the wishes of their donors, but there is a problem of appearances at hand. When the public sees a judge presiding over a case involving a campaign donor, questions arise over the objectivity of the judges’ decisions. The reputation of fairness and impartiality is paramount to the success of the judicial system. Cases like the one in Wisconsin further reduce the public’s trust in the judicial system and ultimately undermine the Judiciary’s reputation.
Merit selection eliminates most of the money in the judicial election process. Through merit selection, judges are selected based on their credentials, not the size of their war chest. When a case is brought before a judge, the law and the facts of the case should determine the outcome, not how much one party donated to the judge’s campaign. Pennsylvania lawmakers should move forward on the proposals before them to implement merit selection for statewide judges. When justice is for sale, no one wins.
