PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE EDITORIAL: … That better way is merit selection. As typically suggested, a knowledgeable panel of lawyers and nonlawyers pick the candidates and the Senate confirms them (or not). If seated, they are subject later to a nonpartisan retention election for a 10-year term.
Last Tuesday, House members launched a bipartisan effort on behalf of such legislation for appellate court races. Sponsored by Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, and Rep. Brian Sims, D-Philadelphia, it has the backing of good-government groups such as the League of Women Voters and Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.
A change in the current system requires a state constitutional amendment, which must pass the Legislature in two consecutive sessions and then be approved by the voters in a referendum. That’s a tall order, but it’s past time that something was done. The expense of appellate court races is out of hand and all the money brings with it the threat of corruption — witness the troubles of disgraced former Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, who mixed state and political business in campaigning… (more)
