Judges And Politics

Judges are supposed to be above politics yet many of them run for office and are elected which is bad for justice. Judges will not base their decision on the law but rather what will get them elected. Can you imagine an elected judge in a conservative state ruling for marriage equality? In states like Connecticut and also the U.S. Supreme Court the governor or the president nominates the judges and the legislative branch confirms the nomination. It doesn’t remove politics from the decision but I believe it is better than electing judges.

But more and more politics is creeping into the process and it is becoming more politicized as we see what is happening with the Supreme Court nominee.

In Kansas the judges are elected but sometimes their ruling ticks off the legislature.

Frustrated GOP lawmakers weigh move to impeach top judges
The Charlotte Observer
By John Hanna AP Political Writer
March 7, 2016

TOPEKA, KAN.
Republican lawmakers in Kansas, weary of conflicts with a judiciary that has been pushing for more school spending, are beginning to act on a measure to expand the legal grounds for impeaching judges.

The move is part of an intensified effort in red states to reshape courts still dominated by moderate judges from earlier administrations.

A committee in the GOP-controlled Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a bill that would make "attempting to usurp the power" of the Legislature or the executive branch grounds for impeachment.

Impeachment has "been a little-used tool" to challenge judges who strike down new legislation, said Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle, a sponsor of the measure. "Maybe it needs to be oiled up a little bit or sharpened a little bit."

The proposal has considerable support in a Legislature in which Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 3 to 1. Nearly half the Senate's members have signed on as sponsors. It's unclear whether its novelty could complicate passage.

If you don’t like get rid of the judge is kind of like shooting the messenger. I like how the legislature calls it “’attempting to usurp the power’ of the Legislature or the executive branch grounds for impeachment.”

In other words if the legislature passes an unconstitutional law and the courts throw out the law then they can impeach the judge! Somehow, this seems to go against the basic principles that our nation was founded upon; a system of checks and balances.

In an editorial the Kansas City Star wrote,

After being thwarted in their efforts to select state Supreme Court justices more to their liking, conservative Kansas lawmakers have come up with an outrageous plan to make it easier to impeach judges for doing their jobs.

This latest assault on the judiciary smacks of desperation. It reveals legislators’ contempt for the checks and balances essential to a functioning democracy and risks making state government even more dysfunctional.
[…]
In other words, lawmakers want to impeach judges for not deciding cases in favor of the Legislature or governor.

The editorial goes on to say that,

It is illogical and vindictive for lawmakers to propose getting rid of justices because they don’t like the way they decided those cases.
[…]
Sponsors of Senate Bill 439 are seeking unchecked authority. Other lawmakers with a greater respect for our foundation of government should deny them this power grab.

Judges don’t decide on their own to issue a ruling, it is the result of either a criminal or a civil case brought before them and they are supposed to rule on the legal aspects of the case. This bill is as the editorial said, it is a power grab by the lawmakers to twist the judge’s arm.