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Thursday, February 14, 2008

Ind. Courts - South Bend Tribune story on judicial evaluation repeated; plus more on the upcoming election

Here are ILB quotes about a Sept. 27, 2006 South Bend Tribune series: "The South Bend Tribune's series, Judging the Judges, continues today with this story by Jeff Parrott, headlined "Judge evaluations help voters make informed choice."

Today, the Tribune repeats the story, with the note: "This series on St. Joseph County's judges, how they're chosen and the justice they mete out was first published in The Tribune and on southbendtribune.com in September 2006." It begins:

In Arizona, a state agency surveys people who work in or have had contact with the courts.

In Iowa, the state bar association polls attorneys across the state.

In the Indianapolis area, the Marion County Bar Association asks lawyers to evaluate judges -- even though judges there are popularly elected, meaning voters may already learn about them through the campaign process.

In each of those places, survey results are shared publicly, meaning you don't have to be a lawyer to know whether a judge is doing a decent job before voting him in or out on Election Day.

But in St. Joseph County, voters are on their own if they hope to make an informed decision on whether to keep a trial court judge on the bench.

The Indiana State Bar Association evaluates judges up for retention on the ballot, but only those in the state's highest courts: the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, said association president Jim Riley, an Indianapolis attorney.

Such evaluations typically are only done in places where judges are appointed by the governor and then retained or rejected by voters at the end of each term -- a "merit selection" system operating only in St. Joseph and Lake counties in Indiana. The Indiana State Bar Association thinks it's up to county bar associations to evaluate trial court judges, Riley said.

Whether a voter is asked to vote on a judge's election, reelection, or retention, at either the trial or appellate level, the voter needs access to information upon which to base a decision.

This year three of the five Indiana Supreme Court Justices, Shepard, Dickson and Boehm, will be up for retention, plus at least one Court of Appeals Judge, Darden. (Under IC 33-25-2-2, the filing deadline is noon of July 15.) Two years ago, the ILB provided extensive resources via the site, Resources for the 2006 Indiana Appellate Judicial Retention Election. This year, the ILB hopes to provide even more information to aid voters in making their decisions, including not only the results of evaluations by attorneys, but responses from the justices and judges to questions posed by the ILB.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 14, 2008 07:07 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts