Think Canada uses something similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_appointments_in_Canada#Provincial_courts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_appo

Think Canada uses something similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_appointments_in_Canada#Provincial_courts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_appointments_in_Canad... Lower level appointments go thru a provincial JAAC, while superior and above go thru a federal JAAC. After JAAC's shortlisting, the respective provincial or federal government or minister of justice decides. I suppose there's always a way to stack the committee to get a biased shortlist to choose from, but the committees aren't all appointed by the government. Some are appointed by judges, law society, etc. In practice, it seems to work way better than just having a city council choose.