Minnesota s Judiciary Keeping It Strong, Fair and Impartial

Transcription

1 Miesota s Judiciary Keepig It Strog, Fair ad Impartial Outlie 1. Miesota courts rak highly atioally ad i recet surveys of Miesotas, as qualified, fair ad impartial. 2. Miesota s judiciary is held accoutable i several importat ways, icludig through appeals of lower court decisios, oversight by the State Board o Judicial Stadards ad the Judicial Coucil, ad removal i idividual cases. 3. I recet times most Miesota judges are selected after beig evaluated by a o-partisa Merit Selectio Commissio, which forwards ames to the Goveror. Judges go through electios every six years. 4. Times are chagig across the coutry, with multimillio dollar state judicial campaigs ad the ivolvemet of special iterest groups i those campaigs. 5. Why is this a problem? Because the role of a judge is differet from the role of traditioal politicias. As explaied by Justice Ala Page, a judge s role is to iterpret the law fairly ad esure due process to every litigat. A strog judiciary is accoutable to the Costitutio ad the law, ot politicias or the majority (or we would lose idividual rights). The most importat questio is Whe YOUR case comes to trial, what kid of judge do you wat? Do you wat a judge decidig your case based o who has cotributed to the judge s campaig? Or o the facts ad the law? 6. Quie Commissio ad Miesota State Bar Associatio recommedatios o possible chages to judicial selectio: selectio through merit selectio commissio ad appoitmet by Goveror, ad later performace evaluatio reviews. Quie Commissio: retetio through retetio electios (with recommedatio o ballot by performace evaluatio commissio). MSBA Assembly: prefers retetio by reappoitmet after performace evaluatio, but is ot opposed to retetio electios. 7. The Legislature reviewed these ad other optios i 2008, ad will review the optios agai i the future. 8. I sum, here are a few key poits: Do t be surprised if you hear geeralized criticisms of Miesota s highly regarded judiciary i the ext few years. Do t be misled Our fouders set up a separate judicial brach, with judges i a separate, less political role. Judges serve as a check o the other braches, to itervee if ecessary to protect all of our rights. Do ask that cadidates for judge focus o impartiality, fairess, experiece ad itegrity. Thik of the kid of judge you wat to hear YOUR case. What system best preserves that kid of judge? Ay system should esure courts are fair, free from ifluece, ad accoutable to the Costitutio ad the law Outlie

2 Miesota s Judiciary Keepig It Strog, Fair ad Impartial Detailed Talkig Poits 1. Itro: Imagie yourself i a boat o oe of Miesota s lakes. Miesota s lakes are some of our state s best assets. Miesota s highly regarded fair ad impartial judiciary is aother of our state s best assets. Preservig assets like our judiciary ad our lakes helps all of us. 2. Backgroud o Miesota s judiciary why do we say it is such a importat asset? Miesota courts rak highly atioally. I a 2007 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Survey of Corporate Cousel, Miesota courts rak: No. 2 atioally for fairess of the litigatio eviromet No. 3 atioally for impartiality, competece ad fairess I a 2006 survey of Miesotas, betwee 80 ad 94 percet of Miesota residets surveyed cosider Miesota judges: Qualified Fair Dedicated to facts ad law Hoest ad trustworthy Impartial Miesota s judiciary is held accoutable i several importat ways: Appeals The Board o Judicial Stadards Oversight by the Miesota Judicial Coucil Limited terms A judge ca be removed i idividual cases 3. Judicial Selectio i Miesota The quality of justice i Miesota depeds o the quality of its judges; ad the quality of judges depeds o the system by which they are selected. How has Miesota traditioally selected its judges? Most judges come through a o-partisa Merit Selectio Commissio. The Merit Selectio Commissio evaluates itegrity, judicial temperamet, experiece, legal kowledge, etc. The Commissio forwards ames to the Goveror, who selects ames from that list. Miesota judges stad for electio every 6 years. Util recetly, judges could ot: Raise campaig fuds directly Seek political party edorsemet Pre-judge cases by statig views o topics that might come before them i court For early 100 years, Miesota has elected its judges o a o-partisa ballot Talkig Poits p. 1

3 4. I the words of a famous sogwriter, The Times They Are a-chagi. Republica Party v. White: Recet decisios by the U.S. Supreme Court ad the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, based o freedom of speech argumets, are chagig judicial electios i Miesota ad across the coutry. With the ew stadards set out uder the White decisios, judges ad their challegers, may: Seek edorsemets from political parties; Aouce positios o social ad political issues; Persoally solicit campaig cotributios; ad Atted political gatherigs. What s wrog with partisa judicial electios? A LOT!! To see Miesota s future, we oly eed to look to a state that ALREADY has partisa judicial electios: Texas. There: Some judges expect cotributios from law firms. Campaig checks are haded to judges durig court proceedigs. Half of Texas judges surveyed say that cotributios iflueced their decisios. Whe asked what oe thig they would chage about the Texas court system, judges most ofte metioed judicial selectio. Attoreys amed partisa electio of judges as the court system s most sigificat weakess. How is Texas s judiciary rated? The 2006 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Survey of Corporate Cousel (which was cited earlier regardig Miesota s judiciary, i the same categories, icludig judicial impartiality ad competece): Texas raked i the bottom 10. Aother state with partisa electios, Illiois, is raked i the bottom 5 atioally. The times are chagi across the coutry. Here s from a 2004 Justice at Stake report: A perfect storm of hardball TV ads, millios i campaig cotributios ad bare-kuckled special iterest politics is descedig o a growig umber of Supreme Court campaigs The time for warigs has come ad goe: every state that elects judges eeds to act, quickly, before the ew politics of judicial electios udermies the impartiality ad idepedece of their courts. Evidece of this: Sice 2004, Supreme Court races i 14 states broke records, with multi-millio dollar judicial electio campaigs Wiscosi $6.2 millio, much of which was spet by special iterest groups through idepedet ads ad mailigs. Nov Pesylvaia Supreme Court electios $5.4 millio. Just Across the River I a racially charged 2008 reelectio campaig i Wiscosi betwee Louis Butler, the state s first black Supreme Court Justice, ad lower court Judge Mike Gabelma, false ad misleadig accusatios were lobbed agaist both cadidates. The icumbet, Butler, lost the race. A ad sposored by the Gabelma campaig was compared to the famous Willie Horto ad of the 1988 Presidetial Campaig i that it accused Butler of beig resposible for freeig a rapist ad allowig him to commit aother sexual assault. Left out of the ad was that Butler had bee a public defeder represetig the accused, lost, ad the ma did ot commit his ext crime util after he had bee paroled. Gabelma was accused by a outside special iterest group of securig his lower court positio by cotributig $1,250 to the the Goveror s campaig. This charge was ever sustaied Talkig Poits p. 2

4 Outside iterest groups outspet the cadidates early 10-1 o TV ads, ad there was over $3 millio spet o TV ads durig the campaig. -Source: Aeberg Political Fact Check ( The Bottom Lie: I those states, i the public s mid, Justice is for Sale. Warig sigs i Miesota: At least oe special iterest group has said that it iteds to useat a Miesota Supreme Court Justice. Certai groups are makig geeralized attacks o Miesota s well-qualified judiciary. 5. Why is this a problem? Justice Ala Page of the Miesota Supreme Court explais this well: The judiciary simply caot be impartial or trusted whe party politics ecourages judges to behave as traditioal politicias [O]ur role is distictly differet. Whereas executive ad legislative officials commit themselves to eactig their political agedas, a judge s role is to iterpret the law fairly ad esure due process to every litigat. Recogize: Good judges must set aside their iflueces, ad ofte must rule agaist what they believe. Demadig to kow i advace how a judge will rule asks him/her to igore their oath to be fair. A strog judiciary is accoutable to the Costitutio ad the law, ot politicias or the majority (or we would lose idividual rights). A judiciary that is t fair ad impartial threates to udermie your idividual rights ad freedoms, ad your ability to get a fair trial. You may ask, why should I care? Nearly everyoe has cotact with Miesota s court system at some poit i their lives: Traffic tickets, busiess disputes, divorce, child custody or support, adoptios, a child i juveile court, dispute with a employer or dispute with a employee, a real estate matter, or small claims court. The most importat questio is Whe YOUR case comes to trial, what kid of judge do you wat? Do you wat a judge decidig your case based o who has cotributed to the judge s campaig? Or o the facts ad the law? 6. So what s the solutio? From a Pioeer Press editorial i 2006: If Miesota wats to esure a state judiciary utaited by moeyglutted, free-for-all partisa electios, the state must alter the way judges are chose. The Quie Commissio was formed to look at judicial selectio. It had 32 members, ad was chaired by former Republica Goveror Al Quie (who had started the Merit Selectio Commissio process for judges may years ago). The Quie Commissio: Took public iput; held hearigs across the state; heard experts, both from Miesota ad outside the state; ad issued recommedatios i March 2007 Quie Commissio Recommedatios Madatory appoitmet by the Goveror of all judges icludig appellate judges from a slate of cadidates omiated by a merit selectio commissio 2008 Talkig Poits p. 3

5 Comprehesive performace evaluatio of all sittig judges so that the public has iformatio about the performace of its judges Reewal of judicial terms through retetio electios, where citizes have the right to vote to retai all judges Performace evaluatio results (qualified/ot qualified) are prited o the ballot so that the public ca cast iformed votes. These recommedatios would require a costitutioal amedmet Miesota State Bar Associatio Assembly Recommedatios Agreed with Quie Commissio that judges should be selected through a merit selectio process, ad appoited by the Goveror Differed o retetio: MSBA Assembly prefers that reewal of judges terms should be by reappoitmet, followig recommedatios from a diverse performace evaluatio commissio Performace evaluatio commissio would be chose by multiple appoitig authorities (executive, legislative, bech ad bar associatio) that check ad balace each other The MSBA prefers reewal by reappoitmet, but is ot opposed to retetio electios Other Optios Some groups, as well as some judges, are i favor of the existig system of judicial appoitmet ad judicial electios Other judges are i favor of chages to the curret system for judicial selectio ad retetio Miesota s legislature reviewed these ad other optios i 2008, ad is expected to revisit these optios agai i the future. Rhode Islad is a example of a state that was successful i reformig its judicial selectio system, movig from electios to a merit selectio system for selectig judges at all levels. What Ca You Do? Ask local attoreys or judges to speak to groups i your commuity As opiio leaders, talk with family ad frieds Talk to your elected represetatives about preservig the asset we have i Miesota s judiciary Ask that cadidates for judge focus o impartiality, fairess, experiece ad itegrity. I sum, remember two key poits: Thik of the kid of judge you wat to hear YOUR case. What system best preserves that kid of judge? Ay system should esure courts are fair, free from ifluece, ad accoutable to the Costitutio ad the law. Thak you! Questios? A Public Educatio Project of the Miesota State Bar Associatio Judiciary Committee For more iformatio, cotact Nacy Mischel at mischel@mbar.org or see www2.mbar.org/committees/judiciary/idex.htm Talkig Poits p. 4