SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: …In a process much like that for federal judges, Mr. Corbett will nominate an interim justice who then would have to be confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the Senate – 33 of 50.
Just as in the federal system, that two-thirds requirement is an important check against philosophical hegemony on the bench. Republicans hold a 27-23 edge in the Senate and would need at least six Democratic votes for confirmation of a Republican nominee. Senate Democrats already have served notice that their votes will be contingent upon nomination of a moderate whose interest is the law more so than politics.
Merit selection and appointment, generally, is a better system because judges are supposed to be apolitical. The Orie-Melvin case shows what can happen when the need to get elected, to act as a politician, interferes with the fundamental requirements of the job… (more)
