WVCala

Judicial Selection in Need of Change

by admin on 11/09/08 at 1:03 pm

The State Journal
Sep 11, 2008

West Virginia legislators heard some valuable perspectives this week about the way our state chooses judges. West Virginia legislators heard some valuable perspectives this week about the way our state chooses judges.Legislators heard academics and legal experts describe a system that doesn’t work very well for those who believe our courts should be balanced in the way they deliver justice. They heard about a system that all too often appears to play Robin Hood — taking from the affluent and awarding plaintiffs and their lawyers. In short, West Virginia is out of step with the nation when it comes to the way it manages its judiciary.

States use five ways to select judges — executive appointment, legislative appointment, partisan elections, nonpartisan elections and merit selection. West Virginia asks voters to cast partisan ballots — Republican or Democrat — and select magistrates, family law judges, circuit judges and justices for the state Supreme Court of Appeals.

Few states do it that way. Even more troubling are reports that states that hold partisan judicial elections tend to see their courts be more generous with defendants’ money.

Many who defend themselves in West Virginia courts will tell you they sense the system is stacked against them. They believe some judges are enthralled with trial lawyers who attack out-of-state corporations. They see juries that appear all too eager to penalize the big company and reward the “little guy,” whose lawyer is sure to receive a healthy cut.

Such a reputation does not serve West Virginia well. It discourages companies from investing in the state or expanding their presence here. Those employers tend to prefer the fairness they find in other states, where courts don’t have an open season on corporations.

So what will the members of the Legislature do with these points of view? Will they dismiss them as just the musings of overly educated people who really don’t care about West Virginians? Or will they recognize that West Virginia once again is out of step with the way it dispenses justice and that the state’s stubborn resistance to change comes with a high price?

Will legislators aggressively defend the existing judicial selection practices, or will they at least consider moving West Virginia toward a judicial selection system that gives some sense of comfort to all those who come before our courts?

We have said it before. We’ll say it again. West Virginia cannot hope to take part in the Great American Dream until it starts behaving like the rest of America. The way we select judges must change.