SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: … In any case, like every other Supreme Court justice and other appellate court judge, Justice [Seamus] McCaffery was elected on the strength of political factors that had little to do with his professional suitability for the job…
No selection method can eliminate politics. But the objective is to diminish political considerations while elevating qualifications…
Merit selection would end the fundraising that requires candidates, sometimes sitting judges on other courts, to solicit money from people who later have business before the court. It would help populate the appellate benches less exclusively from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. And it would make qualifications — merit — the entry point to the state’s higher courts rather than a matter secondary to politics… (more)
