4 ms·

Title should be adjusted to “Some South Carolina Judges..”

burnte 7y ago
No it shouldn't. Every state has elected judge positions, and they only require being able to win an election. In my home state of PA a local magistrate was caught by the FBI trying to fix cases of people who appealed her judgments, was removed from the bench for 6 months, and still ran for reelection unopposed. The people we let get elected to judicial positions is scary.
- chongli 7y ago
  Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
  - snagglegaggle 7y ago
    The law is supposed to be relatable and human. It is already twisted enough as it is, I would hate to see it under that kind of system.
    - chongli 7y ago
      So in other words, you would hate to see the legal system in Canada? Because that’s how it is here. We don’t elect judges at any level. We seem to be getting along just fine.
  - SamReidHughes 7y ago
    That is by construction a partisan process, with the outcome matching politics of the median lawyer, instead of the median voter.
    - chongli 7y ago
      Partisanship is a state of mind moreso than a formal system. Judicial appointments in Canada are non partisan. The politicians who appoint them are operating under the principle of “who would be the best judge from among these candidates” rather than who is my closest ally. Elected judges are entirely the opposite. It sounds like the entire judicial branch of the United States has become politicized. That’s really unfortunate. It’s not the case in other countries.
      - SamReidHughes 7y ago
        That's a result of how the federal/state constitutions here work. Judges don't matter as much if Parliament is sovereign.
      - refurb 7y ago
        Judicial appointments in Canada are non partisan. Take a look at the backgrounds of the judges who are appointed and tell me it’s not partisan in Canada. Usually the liberals appoint judges with close Liberal Party ties and the same with the conservatives.
    - michaelmrose 7y ago
      You want medical practice dispensed by the median doctor not the median patient. The median voter already sits on juries.
      - roenxi 7y ago
        But the only similarity between a judge and a doctor is they both traditionally require degrees. If we accept that a judge doesn't need a degree then there is no comparison to a doctor. Ie, that is probably a form of circular reasoning. Degrees might be a reasonable proxy for general intelligence which is nice to have in a judge, but so is popular support. We already let any fool off the street write the law, they should also be qualified to interpret the law.
        chongli 7y ago
        they should also be qualified to interpret the law The problem with this is that our system is built on literally centuries of case law, in addition to all the legislation. Fools off the street don't know any of that stuff. Are we going to wait around while they spend weeks doing the research for every case? We already let any fool off the street write the law Foolish legislators often have their laws struck down for being unconstitutional. If we're going to let fools also be judges, then the inmates are running the asylum and we might as well not have a constitution at all.
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    New York does this in NYC for traffic court... they use administrative law judges who are civil service employees to adjudicate traffic violations. Most places outside of NYC prefer to have elected judges “town/village justices” for revenue purposes. Basically, they plea down as many state violations as possible to local ordinances, as more of the fines go to the towns instead of the state.

No it shouldn't. Every state has elected judge positions, and they only require being able to win an election. In my home state of PA a local magistrate was caught by the FBI trying to fix cases of people who appealed her judgments, was removed from the bench for 6 months, and still ran for reelection unopposed. The people we let get elected to judicial positions is scary.

chongli 7y ago
Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
- snagglegaggle 7y ago
  The law is supposed to be relatable and human. It is already twisted enough as it is, I would hate to see it under that kind of system.
  - chongli 7y ago
    So in other words, you would hate to see the legal system in Canada? Because that’s how it is here. We don’t elect judges at any level. We seem to be getting along just fine.
- SamReidHughes 7y ago
  That is by construction a partisan process, with the outcome matching politics of the median lawyer, instead of the median voter.
  - chongli 7y ago
    Partisanship is a state of mind moreso than a formal system. Judicial appointments in Canada are non partisan. The politicians who appoint them are operating under the principle of “who would be the best judge from among these candidates” rather than who is my closest ally. Elected judges are entirely the opposite. It sounds like the entire judicial branch of the United States has become politicized. That’s really unfortunate. It’s not the case in other countries.
    - SamReidHughes 7y ago
      That's a result of how the federal/state constitutions here work. Judges don't matter as much if Parliament is sovereign.
    - refurb 7y ago
      Judicial appointments in Canada are non partisan. Take a look at the backgrounds of the judges who are appointed and tell me it’s not partisan in Canada. Usually the liberals appoint judges with close Liberal Party ties and the same with the conservatives.
  - michaelmrose 7y ago
    You want medical practice dispensed by the median doctor not the median patient. The median voter already sits on juries.
    - roenxi 7y ago
      But the only similarity between a judge and a doctor is they both traditionally require degrees. If we accept that a judge doesn't need a degree then there is no comparison to a doctor. Ie, that is probably a form of circular reasoning. Degrees might be a reasonable proxy for general intelligence which is nice to have in a judge, but so is popular support. We already let any fool off the street write the law, they should also be qualified to interpret the law.
      - chongli 7y ago
        they should also be qualified to interpret the law The problem with this is that our system is built on literally centuries of case law, in addition to all the legislation. Fools off the street don't know any of that stuff. Are we going to wait around while they spend weeks doing the research for every case? We already let any fool off the street write the law Foolish legislators often have their laws struck down for being unconstitutional. If we're going to let fools also be judges, then the inmates are running the asylum and we might as well not have a constitution at all.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  New York does this in NYC for traffic court... they use administrative law judges who are civil service employees to adjudicate traffic violations. Most places outside of NYC prefer to have elected judges “town/village justices” for revenue purposes. Basically, they plea down as many state violations as possible to local ordinances, as more of the fines go to the towns instead of the state.