Wisconsin Lawyer
Vol. 81, No. 1, January 2008

President's Message

Let's Take Politics Out of Judicial Selection

by Thomas J. Basting Sr.

THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF TALK lately about judicial selection, judicial independence, judicial campaigns, and judicial ethics. As promised, on Dec. 6, 2007, the State Bar launched the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee. This committee will educate the public about the unique roles and responsibilities of judges. It will actively seek pledges from candidates to adhere to the goals of the Judicial Code of Conduct, and it will review judicial campaign materials produced by candidates and their supporters and provide comment to the public if those materials cross the line of proper behavior during the election campaign. You can learn more about the committee by going to its Web site, www.WiFairCourts.com. In addition, Gov. Jim Doyle has asked for meaningful public financing of Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, and I applaud his efforts in that regard. These are all important developments, but they are not the only issues or reforms needed for our cherished judicial system.

Did you know that in the last 20 years up to an appointment recently made in Rock County, governors have appointed 132 circuit court and appellate court judges and supreme court justices in Wisconsin? Of those appointments, 122 were for circuit judge seats.

The candidates for these positions usually were vetted by a group of lawyers chosen and appointed by a governor to serve on a "judicial selection committee." The judicial selection committee then interviewed applicants, rejecting some and sending the names of vetted candidates to the governor's office for final interviews and selection.

Because of the political nature of the process, rumors abound that the process is subject to partisan influence and that, on occasion, governors have told the committee which names to send up for final selection; that political connections of the applicant are more important than competency. In other words, the process promotes public distrust and may discourage some qualified candidates from applying for vacant judicial positions.

The process should be changed, and now is the time to do it. Wisconsin has a newly formed Government Accountability Board (GAB). The board is made up of highly respected nonpartisan former judges. These former judges are particularly well equipped to interview applicants for vacant judicial positions and to certify a final list of candidates to the governor for selection. I urge the governor to use the GAB to conduct the interviews of judicial candidates and to certify the most qualified to the governor for final selection. Politics would be removed from the process and the public would be assured that only the most competent candidates would be chosen to fairly and impartially administer our system of justice.

Wisconsin Lawyer