Apr 2, 2016 2 min read

With all the attention focused on the 2016 presidential election, it’s easy to forget the impact of the 2015 judicial elections – the most expensive in national history. Over $16 million was spent to elect three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices with most of the money coming from lawyers, law firms, special interests and others with business before the court.

Studies have shown that over three-fourths of Pennsylvanians believe that campaign contributions influence judicial decision-making. This, along with ongoing court scandals, has eroded public confidence in our judicial system.

Pennsylvania legislators will soon have the opportunity to vote on House Bill 1336, which provides for the merit selection of statewide, appellate court judges. Local judges would continue to be elected.

Merit selection is a commonsense solution to many of the problems with judicial elections. It is a hybrid elective-appointive system based around a citizens’ nominating commission that initially vets the candidates and recommends a short list to the governor. The governor nominates one individual from list for Senate confirmation. Once the judge is seated, they serve a shortened term before going before the voters in a retention election.

While no system is perfect, merit selection is a vast improvement over the current expensive partisan judicial elections. We hope legislators will support House Bill 1336.

Judy Hughes

Lawrence

Hughes is the president of the League of Women Voters of Washington County.