PHOENIX (AP) — Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has for years tried to convince states to adopt Arizona’s system of selecting judges, which aims to remove politics from the judiciary.
But a state Senate committee on Monday will consider asking voters to ditch that system and require judges be confirmed by the Senate every four years, a move supporters say would prevent judicial activism but which O’Connor called “a great step backwards.”
“We have an excellent judiciary at present, and in my opinion it would be against the best interests of Arizona to increase the partisanship in the selection of its judges,” O’Connor wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee dated Feb. 4.
A former Arizona state senator, O’Connor in 1974 helped send to voters the referendum creating the existing judicial selection system, which supporters call “merit selection.” It applies to state appellate courts and trial courts in Maricopa and Pima counties, where the vast majority of Arizona’s judges work.
For each judicial vacancy, nonpartisan commissions review applications and send the three most qualified candidates to the governor, who selects one. Voters decide whether to retain judges or remove them from office.
Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, proposes that judges instead be nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, similar to the federal system. Judges would have to be reconfirmed by the Senate every four years.
The bill is SCR1002, judicial appointments; senate confirmation.
Another bill being herd by the RULES committee Monday is SB1102, concealed weapons; permit; justification.
Don’t forget that legislation that you are interested in can be followed on the ALIS system.
