voting for justices

[Rick Duncan]

Does anyone think that the people who elected Justice
Moore believe he ought to be removed? My guess is his
approval ratings among the people (as opposed to among
the powerful secular elite) are quite high. Am I
wrong?

Cheers, Rick Duncan

--- David Rothman <drothman1 at JUNO.COM> wrote:
>         The discussion on this list shows why
> election
>         of judges is a poor instrument of
> accountability
>         (to use exceptionalist language of political
> sci-
>         ence).  A better error-correcting mechanism,
> in
>         this sector of government, would be to have
> an
>         agency for removal of judges.
>
>         If we had such a mechanism in place, then
> the
>         question is whether Judge Moore should have
>         been removed after this event.  I'd guess
> there
>         is too little here even to bother our
> hypothetical
>         agency.
>
> On Wed, 8 Aug 2001 15:24:54 -0400 Truthserum
> <thetruthserum at YAHOO.COM>
> writes:
> > And although the number of shootings is, I hope,
> quite low, I suppose
> > that
> > we can't be so sure about the perception of the
> people regarding
> > either
> > elected judges or appointed judges.  And I'll give
> David the point
> > that
> > voting in an election is not proof positive of
> approval of the
> > election,
> > that it is often making the best of a bad
> situation.  But I will
> > adhere to
> > the Alabama election of Judge Moore being a
> special case
> > demonstrating that
> > sometimes the principle works.
> >
> > My real point, though, is that sitting on a bar
> stool at the White
> > Horse
> > Inn, I am unlikely to hear the common man
> complaining of the curse
> > of the
> > elected judiciary.  He might gripe about the curse
> of the half year
> > it takes
> > to fully pay all his tax obligations, or of the
> wretchedness of his
> > region's
> > football team.  He will never, I am certain, never
> cry out for the
> > woeful
> > sadness of the elected judiciary.
> >
> > Jim "I Like the Buford Pusser Approach to the
> Problem of Judicial
> > Workspace"
> > Henderson
> > Senior Counsel
> > ACLJ
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
> > [mailto:RELIGIONLAW at listserv.ucla.edu]On Behalf Of
> Mark Graber
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 2:43 PM
> > To: RELIGIONLAW at listserv.ucla.edu
> > Subject: voting for justices
> >
> >
> > And what do we make of evidence that turnout in
> the vast majority
> > (not all)
> > of judicial elections when nothing bigger is on
> the ballot is
> > remarkably
> > low.  Reading into low turnout is dangerous.
> Still, the numbers
> > suggest
> > that most Americans do not regard an elected
> judiciary as all that
> > important.
> >
> > MAG
> >
> > >>> dcruz at LAW.USC.EDU 08/08/01 02:35PM >>>
> > On Wed, 8 Aug 2001, Truthserum wrote:
> >
> > > [snip] folks who vote for a judge demonstrate by
> the act that they
> > disagree
> > > with the bar's view that the folks selecting the
> judges can't be
> > trusted
> > to
> > > act with propriety.
> > >
> > > Jim "First thing, let's disenfranchise all the
> people" Henderson
> > > Senior Counsel
> > > ACLJ
> >
> > I don't see how the act of voting for a judge
> demonstrates that.
> > Isn't it
> > equally consistent to think that many people vote
> for a judge
> > because they
> > do not trust others to act with propriety and so
> can't afford to
> > "sit this
> > one out"?  Now, evidence that "the people" (Jim's
> phrase -- we don't
> > have
> > elections for federal judges, so this "people"
> can't be the
> > undivided "We
> > the People") are seeking to establish regimes in
> which they get to
> > vote
> > for judges might support Jim's claim.  But the
> fact that people make
> > the
> > best they can of such regimes is not evidence that
> they are tickled
> > pink
> > with the regime.
> >
> > -David B. Cruz, USC Law (Cal.)
>
>      Dave, 310-676-4032
>      David Rothman
>      14125 Doty Avenue, #23
>      Hawthorne, CA 90250-8042


=====
"Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm."
    --President George W. Bush (quoting John Page)

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