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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.

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.