2 ms·

In an area where I can vote for judges, I do google searches on all the candidates and rarely get good information. If you’re lucky you can get some very rudime

by dv_dt 5y ago

In an area where I can vote for judges, I do google searches on all the candidates and rarely get good information. If you’re lucky you can get some very rudimentary assessment of if they have any legal background at all. But to really research a judge candidate I think would take access to a legal case database and a fairly sophisticated understanding of law, and far too much time.

pessimizer 5y ago
And don't forget the part where you have to get the majority of your neighbors to do the same.
fires10 5y ago
I am not a fan of voting for judges. Judges should be determined by technical merits and skills more like hiring a developer. This I think would be better handled by having a diverse group of judges routinely review all decisions by a judge and issuing corrective actions against the judge. This review should be done periodically and not require an appeal.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  I disagree. Attorneys are a fairly tight group in general that rely on peer opinion to get jobs. Nobody is going speak about about Judge A because the political machinery and peer pressure are very powerful. When Judge B rats out Judge A, all of the sudden those appellate court opportunities or various other lucrative appointments suddenly are out of reach. Judicial elections are a good way to get bad judges out and mediocre or better judges get to mostly do their thing. The places where the broader political environment is corrupt are no more corrupt than if judges were appointed. There’s the benefit with an election that the local party leaders can just opt to not support a bad judge versus making a decision to oppose him. If any change were to be made, I think making the clerks protected civil service employees would probably blunt the judges power, particularly if cousin Rufus get appointed to be county judge because he’s drinking too much at the law firm.
shadowgovt 5y ago
There's a definite information gap here waiting for someone to step in and fill it. Practically speaking these days, it's currently filled by special interest groups like the state bar and various voting leagues; they will do the heavy lifting of evaluating the candidates and issue recommendations.

by dv_dt 5y ago

pessimizer 5y ago

And don't forget the part where you have to get the majority of your neighbors to do the same.

fires10 5y ago

I am not a fan of voting for judges. Judges should be determined by technical merits and skills more like hiring a developer. This I think would be better handled by having a diverse group of judges routinely review all decisions by a judge and issuing corrective actions against the judge. This review should be done periodically and not require an appeal.

Spooky23 5y ago
I disagree. Attorneys are a fairly tight group in general that rely on peer opinion to get jobs. Nobody is going speak about about Judge A because the political machinery and peer pressure are very powerful. When Judge B rats out Judge A, all of the sudden those appellate court opportunities or various other lucrative appointments suddenly are out of reach. Judicial elections are a good way to get bad judges out and mediocre or better judges get to mostly do their thing. The places where the broader political environment is corrupt are no more corrupt than if judges were appointed. There’s the benefit with an election that the local party leaders can just opt to not support a bad judge versus making a decision to oppose him. If any change were to be made, I think making the clerks protected civil service employees would probably blunt the judges power, particularly if cousin Rufus get appointed to be county judge because he’s drinking too much at the law firm.

shadowgovt 5y ago

There's a definite information gap here waiting for someone to step in and fill it. Practically speaking these days, it's currently filled by special interest groups like the state bar and various voting leagues; they will do the heavy lifting of evaluating the candidates and issue recommendations.