California Judges

Elections are the most democratic way to make judges accountable to the public. Although, competitive elections have many problems and special interest money could corrupt the process. Some states use competitive elections to fill state Supreme Court seats, at least some of the time. Voters then periodically vote on whether to retain these judges. Some states use bipartisan commissions to help choose Supreme Court justice’s judicial appointment. Judges need to be able to make decisions they believe to be fair, regardless of whether voters agree with them. The selection of judges to state courts is variable. In California judges and justices gain office in a different process and regularly have to go through an election. There are two major …show more content…
These can include bankruptcy courts, tax courts and certain military courts. Once judges are appointed by Congress, they may be reappointed after serving for 10 years. How state court judges are selected varies by state. States choose judges by appointment by the state's governor or the legislature. Some judges are selected by a merit selection process by a legislative committee based on each potential judge's past accomplishments. They may also be selected through partisan elections and are voted in by the electorate, and often run as part of a political party's list of candidates Several other states authorize gubernatorial appointment of judges, in which the governor appoints judges, subject to approval of the state senate. A few states require that the state legislature appoint judges. Nevertheless, it seems our elections have become nothing more than sound bites and candidate appearances, and that should not be important when picking a judge. Judges should be appointed and confirmed by our elected officials and this would help judges remain focused on the law and not supporters or political consequences. Judges are part of the judicial branch of government and the constitution states that the judicial branch should be