Comments on Advance Indiana™: Indianapolis Bar Association Thinks Letting Lawmakers Pick Marion County Judges Is A Good Idea

"Eight legislators elected to office through ...

2016-01-30T18:42:22.698-05:00

"Eight legislators elected to office through corrupt, rigged party slating processes"

To be fair to the other 89 counties in Indiana - as far as I know, only both sides in Marion, Lake County D's, and maybe Allen County does party controlled slatings. The others go let the primary process play out. Now which ones have enough sense to "butt out" of primaries? The couple chairs I knew outside Marion did.

But who gets to decide who gets on the ballot to f...

2016-01-30T09:46:19.763-05:00

But who gets to decide who gets on the ballot to face an up or down vote, Carlos? Eight legislators elected to office through corrupt, rigged party slating processes and six people appointed by the party chairs of the two major parties. So 14 of the 16-member panel are party hacks. It's an insult to people's intelligence to even hint that you are giving them any say in the matter. You may as well have a straight-up merit selection system.

Interestingly, the bill requires a majority of PRI...

2016-01-30T09:24:13.175-05:00

Interestingly, the bill requires a majority of PRIMARY election voters to approve the judicial nominee AND requires a majority of GENERAL election voters to approve the judicial nominee. This actually is better than the current Court of Appeals and Supreme Court setup, IMHO, because it requires two separate submissions of the candidate to voters instead of just one.

I don't vote now, because the elections are me...

2016-01-29T11:12:25.476-05:00

I don't vote now, because the elections are meaningless.

I might vote if I had direct election power over unslated judges in free and fair elections.

What is being proposed is a further rejection of government as being created under the consent of the governed. This is a government imposed on the governed. It is due no loyalty, legitimacy or respect.

Increasingly, America is becoming fascist, where the government is the private creation of a small cabal, imposed at gunpoint on the citizens.

Good point, Greg. You and I know how legislators i...

2016-01-29T09:03:42.269-05:00

Good point, Greg. You and I know how legislators in Marion County get elected. They are for the most part beholden to the party's leader; otherwise, they would never have been elected in the first instance. Just look at the slating battles going on for the Senate seats now held by Pat Miller and Brent Waltz. Then you add the additional appointments SB 352 gives to the respective county chairs and you get a politically-driven system that is no better than what we have now where we're given the pretense of letting voters elect judges.

Another important feature of the the Lake and St. ...

2016-01-29T08:57:30.399-05:00

Another important feature of the the Lake and St. Joseph County nominating commissions, as well as the commission selecting judges for the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court is that no member of the nominating commission may be an elected official or an official of a political party. These two requirements go a long way in removing political influence on the selection of judges, but they are missing in SB 352.

Thanks for the correction. My bad.

2016-01-29T08:49:50.467-05:00

Thanks for the correction. My bad.

Hey - don't push Brent Waltz off on the Dems (...

2016-01-29T08:42:12.777-05:00

Hey - don't push Brent Waltz off on the Dems (he is mislabeled as one in the story). He is all Republican!

The National Center for State Courts summarizes th...

2016-01-29T07:29:14.155-05:00

The National Center for State Courts summarizes the process in Lake & St. Joseph Counties:

Superior court judges in Lake and St. Joseph Counties are appointed by the governor from candidates submitted by local judicial nominating commissions. The nominating commission for the superior court of Lake County consists of nine members: the chief justice or an appellate judge designated by the chief justice, who serves as chair; four lawyers elected by members of the bar in the county; and four nonlawyers appointed by the Lake County board of commissioners. At least one lawyer and one nonlawyer member must be a minority, and at least two lawyer and two nonlawyer members must be women. No more than two of the nonlawyer members may belong to the same political party. Commission members serve four-year terms. The nominating commission for the superior court of St. Joseph County consists of seven members: a judge of the supreme court or court of appeals appointed by the governor; three lawyers elected by bar members in the county, and three nonlawyers appointed by a selection commission made up of the St. Joseph circuit court judge, the president of the St. Joseph County board of commissioners, and the mayors of St. Joseph County's two largest cities. No more than two lawyer members, and no more than four commission members, may belong to the same political party. Commission members serve four-year terms.

The part that is flawed is having candidates selec...

2016-01-29T02:59:18.467-05:00

The part that is flawed is having candidates selected by the party system. If someone
is a true independent (and I'm not talking about Green Party or Libertarian Party), the candidate cannot participate very well.

Gary - for us plebs who are not legal scholars, ca...

2016-01-29T00:48:09.231-05:00

Gary - for us plebs who are not legal scholars, can you summarize the judicial selection process in St Joe and Lake Counties?

We could just throw a dart at a wall of names and ...

2016-01-28T21:23:45.769-05:00

We could just throw a dart at a wall of names and probably do better.