Comments on Advance Indiana™: 7th Circuit Affirms District Court Holding Throwing Out Marion County's Judicial Election Process As Unconstitutional

Both parties have A LOT invested in the current sy...

2015-09-10T06:14:10.209-05:00

Both parties have A LOT invested in the current system, which -- though I admit is peculiar -- I do not believe is unconstitutional, with all due respect to the 7th Circuit. Nothing bars a person from running for PC and having influence over who gets nominated. Plus, the slate HAS been beat (Judge Brown and the late Judge Jimison proved that). I expect to see either a request for en banc rehearing or a petition for cert from the AG's office. The system may not be perfect, but I do not see how it is burdensome.

Get ready for more statism from Free-Dumb Indiana....

2015-09-09T16:32:20.218-05:00

Get ready for more statism from Free-Dumb Indiana...

Our byzantine practices slapped down again. I hat...

2015-09-09T16:00:26.537-05:00

Our byzantine practices slapped down again. I hate it when Indiana is shown to be a backward, backwater in the national press. Our Judges, like our politicians, seem so out of touch with a modern world. Everyone knew the judicial slating process was flawed, even fraudulent, but nobody would fix it. So we have these Judges, these “chosen” “selected” judges. And this reputation. Seriously. What we need next is federal review of our broken judicial and attorney disciplinary committees. How long does the public and the business community have to put up with crooked, drunk, greedy, malevolent and vindictive Judges who operate with impunity? And that goes double for half our local lawyers, who long ago seemed to abandon the practice of skirting the law and just proceeded to break it full tilt any time they want. I know a lot of ethically challenged lawyers. And there is no discipline. None. Everybody knows its just a free for all out there. Its gotten really ugly. And they slap down any member of the bar that tries to speak out publicly, so nobody does. If everybody got immunity to come forward and speak freely about what they know about Judges and lawyers and crimes and misdemeanors; now that would be a scandal.

"Merit" systems are unconstitutional unl...

2015-09-09T15:19:14.751-05:00

"Merit" systems are unconstitutional unless applied to all county offices.

Lake County is probably not as obnoxious as Marion County, so that challenge hasn't been brought, but with as dirty as Marion County politics are, any "merit" system here is just going to be the Baker, Daniels, Barnes & Thornburg Selection Committee. If the people want a judge not favored by kingmakers, it's their darn right to be able to vote for him.

"Judicial Districts?" I thought the Republicans were all about getting rid of townships, now they'd want them back? I thought the Republicans were "All County, all the time" ? The entire idea of a Superior Court is that any judge can hear any county case. Are we going to drop the Superior Court and have the Circuit Court exercise jurisdiction? They could create lots of circuits.

What a joke. Just let the people vote.

Don't fear. The Republican-controlled legislat...

2015-09-09T15:03:11.881-05:00

Don't fear. The Republican-controlled legislature will provide a fix. They could break the county into districts to elect judges, or they might choose to adopt a merit selection system like Lake and St. Joseph Counties already have.

Think the next judicial election is scheduled for ...

2015-09-09T13:30:23.039-05:00

Think the next judicial election is scheduled for 2018...

I stated at time of district court ruling and repe...

2015-09-09T13:18:04.734-05:00

I stated at time of district court ruling and repeat now albeit a bit more politically correct: the sale of antacids just increased exponentially to current R judges inside the CCB; probably a shame as there are some good R judges in Marion County but also anything that shakes up the status quo in marion county republican politics can only be perceived as a good and long overdue thing

Cool. All Democrat judges, next year. Since the j...

2015-09-09T13:15:35.499-05:00

Cool. All Democrat judges, next year.

Since the judges are generally elected across the County, and since the County is all Democrat, we can finally get rid of all the Republican outcome-based, party-beholden scum.