State Courts in the Balance: The trial bar is hoping for big gains this year.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The November 4 ballot will feature an unusually high number of judicial races that could tip the balance of several state supreme courts. The trial bar senses an opening in what may be a Democratic year and is pouring cash into the races to reverse what has been a nationwide legal reform tide . . .
The left is also mounting an effort this year to do away with judicial elections altogether. The idea is to expand “merit selection,” whereby judges are chosen by trial lawyer-dominated bar associations and legal groups instead of by voters . . . The expansion of merit selection is being pushed hard by the Brennan Center, Justice at Stake and other legal groups funded by wealthy liberals like George Soros . . .
It’s no mystery that merit selection is the left’s method of choice . . . Elections have their own problems, but at least they require the legal elite to be accountable to voters . . .