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The Time is Ripe for Reform

Today’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette editorial blasts the House Judiciary Committee for failing to advance Merit Selection legislation even as a sitting Supreme Court Justice has been indicted for alleged...

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Lawyers' Contributions to Judicial Campaigns All Too Common

A San Antonio Express-News article explains just how frequently lawyers contribute to judicial election campaigns.  Picture this: a group of probate attorneys gathering together in order to discuss the...

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Shouldn’t We Have the Right to Decide Whether to Change Our Constitution?

An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer examines the efforts to implement a Merit Selection system in Pennsylvania.  The article highlights Justice Orie Melvin’s indictment for allegedly using her...

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Leaders Should Act to "Benefit Our Entire State"

A column in the Holland Sentinel opines about the state of Michigan courts. Four years ago, Michigan was ranked last in a grading of the nation’s supreme courts conducted by the University of Chicago...

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Texas Primary: Pointing Fingers

According to the Texas Tribune, Texas Supreme Court elections are already becoming heated.  Former district court judge, John Devine is running against eight-year incumbent Justice David Medina in a...

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Election Season Mishaps

Election season brings campaign mishaps, and judicial elections are no exception. Recently, three judges, two from Ohio and one from Texas, have been accused of violating campaign laws.   Ohio Common...

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What's In a Name?

Wednesday’s primary election in Washington state is further evidence that where voters have little or no information about one or both of the candidates running for office, they may rely on other...

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Select on Merit, Don't Elect on Money

A recent editorial in the Daily Journal (Tupelo) explains that an independent judiciary should not have to campaign for contributions.  Although the candidates for the Mississippi State Court election...

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Factors in Judicial Elections: Party Affiliation, Race, Sex, and Geographic...

In any given general election, voters tend to use party affiliation as a shortcut in making a decision because researching a candidate’s record and qualifications in depth can be difficult and time...

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Special Interest Group Money May be Influencing Judicial Decisions

According to a report released by the American Constitution Society (ACS), special interest groups donate a large portion of the funding that judges use to run their election campaigns. For example,...

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"Smart Talk": Perceived Corruption and Low Participation in Judicial Elections

Lynn Marks, Executive Director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, recently appeared on WITF’s “Smart Talk” radio program to discuss why Pennsylvania should pick judges through merit selection. At one...

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Women, Minorities and Merit Selection

Studies reported by the American Bar Association demonstrate that merit selection, when compared to other methods of judicial selection, produces the greatest number of women and minority judges. Merit...

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Playing Games with Justice

There is something peculiar happening in the LoneStar State this judicial campaign season. An impending Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court, has made strange bedfellows of Democratic trial...

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Judges for Sale in North Carolina

Since 2004, more than 80% of judicial candidates in North Carolina have used public financing to fund their campaigns. This program gave a grant to judicial candidates who raised money from small...

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Justice for Sale

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...

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Cash Still King in Texas Judicial Elections

What’s the most important qualification a person needs to become a judge? Perhaps a sense of fairness, integrity, or knowledge of the law? Each of these qualifications are certainly important to...

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In the Interest of the Law

It’s been said before, ‘merit selection takes power away from the people to choose judges who represent them.’ But, that represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a judge; judges should...

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Arkansas’s Judicial Business

Arkansas Circuit Judge Mike Maggio recently stepped out of the 2014 race for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals, after it was revealed that he was behind an online pseudonym linked to racist,...

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A Better Way to Pick Judges

It’s great to be a legislator in Virginia. You have control over judicial appointments and if you ever get bored in the General Assembly, there’s likely a cushy judgeship waiting for you. Virginia is...

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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...

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