Politics Over Principles in Race for Chief Justice

The race for North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice got a little more testy this weekend, as Republican candidates for the seat, Superior Court Judge Ola Mae Lewis, and Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin, traded barbs at a political event. Judge Lewis called into question the high court’s productivity, specifically highlighting that her opponent, Justice Martin had only written 5 opinions in the previous year. Conversely, Justice Martin touted his experience on the court, while taking a veiled swipe at Judge Lewis’s Republican bonafides, based on her past work for Democrats.

Although this back and forth may have been great political theater, it bears no relation and has nothing to do with who will make the best Chief Justice. The job of a judge is to uphold the law and protect the constitution – not to keep campaign promises or represent the interests of the voters who elected them. No matter who wins on election day, the citizens of North Carolina lose, because their new Chief Justice will be the best politician, not necessarily the best Chief Justice.

Instead of constantly putting judicial candidates through the rigor of meaningless campaigning, judges should be selected based on their qualifications alone. Moving to a merit selection system does just that. In addition to removing the money and negative campaigning components of electing judges, merit selection allows potential judges to be thoroughly vetted and chosen based on their qualifications, experience, and reputation for honesty, integrity and fairness. Most importantly, however, merit selection benefits Pennsylvania and the nation, by ensuring a more independent and impartial judiciary, free from the perception of bias that comes with expensive, partisan judicial elections.

It’s time to take campaigning out of judicial selection and choose our judges based on their merit.