The Committee for Modern Courts (CMC) applauds the Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee (NYSDC) for his initiative to improve judicial selection by establishing a special committee (Committee to Ensure a Highly Qualified Supreme Court Judiciary) to develop and recommend a mandatory, uniform state-wide screening system for state Supreme Court candidates running on the Democratic line.
"There are few people in this state from whom this proposal would be more meaningful," said Fern Schair, Chair of the CMC. "The recognition of the crisis of public confidence in our courts, coming from a state political party chairman, represents a significant milestone on the path to much needed reform."
The Committee for Modern Courts has long held that an independent, rigorous nomination process is essential to an effective judicial selection process. The model proposed by Chairman Farrell contains many provisions which improve the nominating system, including a meaningful evaluation of the candidate's qualifications by an independent panel and a limitation on the number of candidates determined to be "most highly qualified" for each judicial vacancy. A process that involves local bar associations, law schools and community organizations in the selection of screening panel members leads to a better judicial selection process and has the potential of opening the pool of judicial candidates running for office.
"Rigorous screening by a panel whose members are not directly appointed by a county committee, are independent, and reflect the diversity of the judicial district's population will go a long way to limit the influence of politics and restore the public's confidence in the judicial nominating process," said Dennis R. Hawkins, Executive Director of Modern Courts.
While strongly supporting the decision to hold hearings to reform the selection of Supreme Court judges in New York State, Modern Courts recommends extending the hearings to include all elected judicial offices, especially the Family and County Court outside of New York City.
Since 1955, Modern Courts has strongly advocated for reforms in New York's judicial selection process, including better campaign finance disclosure laws, strengthening judicial campaign ethics and educating voters about a candidate's qualifications. In addition, Modern Courts favors an appointive system with a meaningful screening process. However, the model proposed by Chairman Farrell significantly helps to isolate political considerations from the evaluation process in the elective system and is an achievable reform. |
