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Saturday, February 07, 2009
Ind. Courts - Bill to elect St. Joe Superior Court judges moves out of committee
Ed Ronco reports in the South Bend Tribune:
A bill that would require that St. Joseph County Superior Court judges be elected, rather than appointed, took an unprecedented step forward this week.House Bill 1491, authored by state Rep. Craig Fry, got unanimous approval from the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code this week.
It’s the first time such a bill — introduced year after year in some form or another — has made it through a committee and onto the floor, said Fry, D-Mishawaka. * * *
Superior Court judges in St. Joseph and Lake counties are appointed by the governor using a process called merit selection. Voters can decide whether to retain the judges or boot them from the bench at the end of six-year terms.
The measure would set up nonpartisan elections for Superior Court judges in St. Joseph County only.
“The so-called merit selection system, and I submit that that’s a misnomer, puts judges effectively in lifetime tenure,” St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak said.
Retention elections have never resulted in a jurist being removed from the bench.
“When no judge is ever defeated in that system, you have no accountability,” Dvorak said. “So the merit selection system for the sake of having judicial independence gives up judicial accountability. To have good jurists, you have to have both.”
State Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Jimtown, is expected to offer an amendment Monday that would cap the amount of campaign contributions judges could receive when running for office — a move designed to assuage fears that electing judges could lead to corruption and graft, she said.
Amendment or not, the bill is a bad idea, said Michael Scopelitis, chief judge of the St. Joseph County Superior Court. * * *
In addition to retention elections, judges are evaluated by the local Bar Association and are subject to disciplinary action and citizen complaints. Scopelitis said there’s a movement statewide to expand merit selection to other counties, and that the bill is designed to let the air out of those tires.
“I think there’s more of an urgency on their part to push this kind of legislation through, to try to stop the momentum of those who would have merit selection,” he said. * * *
Of Indiana’s 92 counties, 87 have direct elections of judges. Allen and Vanderburgh counties have nonpartisan elections, and Marion County has a totally different process, known as slating.
But just because St. Joseph County’s system is in the minority doesn’t mean it should be counted out, said John Lloyd, who takes over as president of the Bar Association in July.
Merit selection “strikes the proper balance between judicial independence and accountability,” Lloyd said.
“The system that we have was a reform from the early 1970s that has worked,” he said. “There’s no reason to change what’s already working.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 7, 2009 08:09 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts