Restore Balance Solution

Enact Non-Partisan Judicial Elections or Merit Selection

A key "out of step" issue in West Virginia is the fact that our state is one of only seven states still electing all of its justices and judges in partisan elections.  Nearly every other state has already answered this question:

    Should candidates seeking to become Justices on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals run for office as partisan politicians or be chosen through selection processes or elections that would be freed from partisan politics?

Background:

Unfortunately, West Virginia trails most of the nation in reforming its judiciary, as 43 other states have taken politics out of the process used to select Justices for their states’ highest courts.  Many of those states also have taken it one step further and removed partisan labels from the selection or election of judges in lower courts as well.

Instead, West Virginia stands with only seven other states that still rely on partisan politics for judicial elections.  While the West Virginia Constitution mandates that the five Justices on the Supreme Court stand for popular election, it gives the Legislature the authority to determine the nature of those elections.  As a result, overdue reform that would move West Virginia beyond the partisan politics of the 20^th Century would only require an act of the Legislature, if legislators are courageous enough to let candidates for our highest court stand on their reputations, instead of their party affiliation.

In addition to being supported by 72 percent of West Virginians in a recent public opinion poll, this idea has strong bipartisan support.  Several leading Democrats, including former Chief Justice and current Supreme Court Justice Elliott Maynard, have been courageous enough to look beyond the perceived political benefits of party labels toward the greater public benefit of a more independent judiciary.  Further, the Subcommittee on the Future of the West Virginia Judicial System, chaired by West Virginia University President David Hardesty, recommended non-partisan elections to replace the current, more politicized system.  

Research:

Judicial Elections: Past, Present, Future, The Manhattan Institute (2001)
 http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/mics_6.htm

Articles:

Plan Calls For Appointment Of Justices
Governor would select one from list approved
The Charleston Gazette, July 20, 2005

Editorials:

Lawyer Investigates Judicial Selection  
The Wheeling News-Register, Nov. 14, 2004

Editorial - A Judicial Shift: Nonpartisan Elections
The State Journal, November 11, 2004

Editorial: Judges
Nasty Supreme Court race was good case for nonpartisan elections
The Register-Herald, November 10, 2004

Editorial:  Let's Change Judicial System
West Virginians certainly deserve a better way of shaping court
Charleston Daily Mail, November 8, 2004

Editorial: Judicial Selection Process Needs Major Revamp
The Herald-Dispatch, November 8, 2004

Ugly Race May Fuel Changes In Judge Selection
Charleston Daily Mail, November 5, 2004

State Bar To Review Judicial Elections
Messy matchup between Benjamin and McGraw cited
The Associated Press, Nov. 5, 2004

Editorial:  Judges
W.Va. Needs To Join 44 Other States And Have Nonpartisan Elections
The Register-Herald, Sept. 12, 2004

Editorial: McGraw
'Non-endorsement' Proves The Need For Nonpartisan Election Of Judges
The Register-Herald, August 19, 2004

Editorial: Picking Impartial Judges, Justices Good For State
The News and Sentinel, July 27, 2004
Albright and McGraw are poster children for a campaign to alter the current politics-based system.

Editorials: Bar Should Study judicial Selection
Only six states choose justices the way West Virginians do
Charleston Daily Mail, July 22, 2004

Solution:

West Virginia needs reforms that will move the state’s Judiciary into the mainstream of the 21^st century. Partisan elections for what is supposed to be an independent judiciary stand as ugly reminders of “the politics of the past” and our collective inability to join the mainstream of America in judicial reforms. Proposals need to be advanced that would allow for the selection of our justices for our highest court either through a merit selection process or non-partisan elections, which the West Virginia Constitution already permits.