Judge Selection
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Proponents of judicial elections believe that they are appropriate to our democratic method of government. In fact, many criticize the very concept of merit selection as fundamentally flawed and elitist. Given the fact that we adhere mostly to a representative form of government, such a reaction is understandable. "The growing importance of merit selection is demonstrated by the fact that all states have altered judicial selection techniques in recent years have adopted some form of the Missouri Bar Plan" (Neubauer, 201). Moreover, states that do not adopt the merit system use "voluntary merit plans" to coincide with short-term openings.
Judges have a special role in our democracy. They make decisions involving the meaning and application of law and also make decisions with the potential to impact existing public policies. Consequently, how state judges in the United States are chosen is a controversial and complex subject that touches deeply on judicial independence concerns. The spitting image of the judicial selection controversy consistently centers on two intricate questions, who will choose our judges and which method of selection produces the best, most qualified judges?
State judicial selection is complex because selection methods differ by state, by level of court and court jurisdiction, and may also vary according to initial and subsequent method of judicial selection...