Elected vs Appointed Judges

This year, Judge Sebe Dale, Jr. is stepping down from the bench, and residents of the Tenth Chancery Court District will be electing a new judge in his place. You can find a list of statewide judicial candidates at the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website.

Every election year, you hear arguments on whether judges should be appointed, as they are in several states and in the federal system, or, as in Mississippi, judges should be elected.

Proponents of appointed judges think they are more impartial — that they are not beholden to any special groups. I don’t follow this argument. I think that an appointed judge would, at the very least, owe a “debt” to the person or people who appointed him or her.

Those who favor elected judges think that it is only right to have a judge elected by the very people who would come before him. This leads, opponents argue, to the judge favoring those who made campaign contributions. In my experience, the argument that a judge would favor those who made large campaign contributions is hogwash.

Another argument against electing judges is that you would have higher-qualified judges if they were appointed. I admit, as would all lawyers, that I have seen some judges that, on at least one occasion or another, I wondered if they were qualified for the job. These have mostly been very low level courts where the requirements to be a judge are not very high.

What do I think the right choice is? I would compromise. I think an ideal system would have trial judges elected. I think, at that level, the judges need to remember that our government is ultimately one made by the people. At the appellate level, I would favor a system that I understand some states have: When a judicial vacancy arises, a judge is appointed. Every so often, that judge has to stand for what is, in effect, a vote of no confidence. Should enough people think he or she isn’t doing a good job, the judge can be voted out of office, and then a new judge would be appointed.

What is your take on elected judges versus appointed judges?