weswelker#83

5/3/2008

A Texas Supreme Court decision in favor of the state's most prolific campaign contributor has renewed questions about big money's influence on elected judges.

http://590klbj.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=90415





Money talks......

Stokes

Speaking of elected judges read John Grisham's new one "The Appeal" if you get a chance. It is his best in a while I think, and raises a really interesting and scary hypothetical with electing judges.

MosiT

I can't, and won't, comment on the case itself because I do not know the circumstances, but..

..all nine of the justices are republicans? How can any state allow that to happen, even Texas?

Stokes

The point is for judges to leave any partisanship at the door when they take the job. Once you're a judge you're not supposed to be a Republican anymore. The problem, and it is true for judges both elected and appointed, is that sometimes they do not. Its true for both sides too (Dem and Rep), with judges crafting decisions to fit their political agenda rather than using a consistent judicial approach to guide decision making.

MosiT

Judges are human. They all have views, and opinions, as all humans do and they have developed most of those opinions before they became judges.

There never will be a way to stop human judges from using their personal views and opinions to sway their judgement.

I don't have a way to solve it either. There probably isn't a solution as long as judges are human.

Some day, in the future, I am sure that all judgements will be made by robots of a sort once all the pertinent data is fed into their memory.

DarrylS

Grisham is my Fave, but was disapointed in how that story ended.. but glad he is back from his foray into football and Pizza... elected judges can be scary.

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Stokes

Agreed, I wasn't into the ending either, but the rest of the book was good enough to make me forgive him for it. A Time to Kill is still my favorite by him, followed by The Firm (like most, the first one of his I read).

Stokes

I know, the best thing that can be done is to appoint/elect judges that you think will be true to their interpretation of the law rather than true to their party, and hope for the best!