Justice O'Connor: Stop Electing Judges In PA, Elsewhere

In remarks in Philadelphia today retired United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
took aim at judicial elections. She says the notion of judicial independence is being eroded by judicial elections and she laments the fact that Pennsylvania still elects all its judges. She sees this as a deficiency of the Pennsylvania constitution in that it departs from the US Constitution.
She says the root of the problem lies in the fact that in states where judges are elected they have to raise money for their campaigns (often from lawyers and special interest groups) and she says the cost of judicial elections in Pennsylvania "is steadily rising into the millions of dollars." In fact, she notes that Pennsylvania was one of the first states to experience million dollar plus judicial election campaigns.
It's clear: Justice O'Connor is not a fan of judicial elections. She prefers an appointive, merit-selection system. Her remarks came at a Philadelphia Bar Association luncheon attended by more that 800 lawyers, judges, business, civic and community leaders.
Justice O'Connor says that the mere appearance of such a gross impropriety (in the form of judges acting as politicians and raising money for their own elections) erodes public confidence in the justice system.
She thanks the Philadelphia Bar Association for continuing to work for the cause of merit selection. "It matters," she says. "Keep up your hard work. Keep up the fight so that Pennsylvania will do what it has to do."
She also calls for a culture where people "appreciate and respect the rule of law" and she says the key to creating this culture is the appropriate education -- civic education -- of the next generation. She has worked to develop a web site called iCivics which consists of learning games for students. It introduces young people to civic education. The site is already being used in 50,000 classrooms in every state. They also have an app for the iPad. The website is www.iCivics.com.

BTW: Did you know that Justice O'Connor is a Texas native?
She was born in El Paso Texas.
Like many great Americans, she is a proud daughter of the Lone Star State.
She says the Philadelphia Bar Association has been a great friend to the FEMALE wing of the United States Supreme Court.
She reveals that she had dinner this week (for the first time) with the three other women justices of the court.
She says she loves Philadelphia because it is the birthplace of the US Constitution.