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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Courts - Questions posted in another jurisidction to judges up for retention

I happened this morning across some quotes from a not-longer-available story in the The Legal Intelligencer, "the oldest law journal in the United States." In May of 2007 The Legal Intelligencer sent a 32-question questionnaire to all seven state Supreme Court candidates in Pennsylvania, where all judges initially are elected on a partisan ballot, and thereafter are up for retention every 10 years on a non-partisan retention ballot.

This ILB entry from May 9th, 2007, documented the questions sent to the candidates. I'm setting them out again below because many of them have relevance in the here and now:

Questions about you and the role of a judge:

1. What makes a good judge?

2. What is the biggest trap or mistake a judge can make?

3. How would you describe your judicial philosophy?

4. Which opinion do you think represents your best work?

5. If you could, which opinion would you take back or revise? Why?

6. What in your background has prepared you best for being a judge?

7. How would your personal views and experiences influence you as a justice?

8. What separates you from the other candidates and why would you be a better addition to the Supreme Court?

9. If elected, what would be your biggest priority on the court?

Questions about the law and legal practice:

10. Is there any area of the law that you think needs a closer look or guidance from the Supreme Court?

11. When deciding a case, how do you frame the issue and conduct your analysis to reach a conclusion?

12. Do you think there is a dilemma in how Rule 1925(b) is applied? And if so, what needs to be done to fix it?

13. Is the court threatening to make the practice of law too burdensome for solo and small-firm practitioners by increasing requirements for CLE, maintaining certain types of bank accounts, moving toward effective requirements for malpractice insurance, etc.?

14. Conversely, are clients adequately protected by the aforementioned requirements?

15. What is the greatest threat to the practice of law or problem the profession faces?

16. How important is consensus - particularly unanimous consensus - in high court opinions and are there limits when a justice should only concur, or should they do it any time they feel like it?

17. How important is stare decisis and when should a court depart from it?

Openness of the courts:

18. Does the court need to improve efforts to make the courts and what they do more open and accessible to the press and public?

19. Do you favor cameras in the courtroom, particularly for oral arguments before the Supreme Court?

20. Once litigants have chosen to enter the arena of the public courts, should confidential settlements be discouraged? Or should they be encouraged as a way for the system to reach swifter resolutions?

21. Under what circumstances should judges seal the records in a case? In general, should the practice of sealing records be encouraged for discouraged?

22. Should the court make more of its dealings - including meetings with other elected officials and reasons for recusal - open to the public?

Politics and public perceptions:

23. What should be the nature of the relationship between the court and the members of the other branches of government and how should the justices, particularly the chief justice, interact with them?

24. The pay raise decision: who do you think got it right, Justice Castille or Justice Saylor? Explain your answer.

25. Since judges are elected and you are running as a member of a political party, what does your party membership say about you and how big a role does it play in your outlook on legal matters?

26. Should party membership/loyalty play any role in getting a party's nomination?

27. Would you recuse yourself if a campaign contributor were involved in litigation as a party or attorney before you?

28. In general, under what circumstances would you recuse yourself from a case?

29. To whom or what are judges accountable?

30. What does "independence of the judiciary" mean to you?

31. How would you define a "threat to judicial independence?" And where are these threats coming from?

32. What is the biggest misunderstanding between judges and the general public?

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 16, 2008 08:49 AM
Posted to Courts in general