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Friday, February 13, 2009

Ind. Courts - "House overwhelmingly passes measure to elect jurists in St. Joe County."

Ed Ronco reports today in the South Bend Tribune:

A bill to elect Superior Court judges in St. Joseph County won resounding support from the Indiana House on Thursday, which approved the measure 88-3.

But the breezy journey through the House could become a bit more turbulent in the Indiana Senate, where it heads next.

Superior Court judges in St. Joseph and Lake counties are appointed by the governor using a process called merit selection. Voters can decide whether to retain the judges or boot them from the bench at the end of six-year terms.

House Bill 1491, sponsored by Rep. Craig Fry, D-Mishawaka, would set up nonpartisan elections for Superior Court judges in St. Joseph County only.

"The so-called merit selection system, and I submit that that's a misnomer, puts judges effectively in lifetime tenure," St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak told The Tribune after the bill cleared a House committee last week.

Retention elections have never resulted in a jurist being removed from the bench.

"When no judge is ever defeated in that system, you have no accountability," Dvorak said. "So the merit selection system for the sake of having judicial independence gives up judicial accountability. To have good jurists, you have to have both."

The bill — which has been brought up in years past but never made it out of the committee process, let alone cleared the entire House — is a bad idea, said Michael Scopelitis, chief judge of the St. Joseph Superior Court.

And politicians' arguments that judges aren't accountable to anyone is code, he said.

"What they really mean is, 'They're not accountable to us,' " Scopelitis said.

In addition to retention elections, judges are evaluated by the local Bar Association and are subject to disciplinary action and citizen complaints.

Scopelitis said there's a movement statewide to expand merit selection to other counties, and the bill is designed to let the air out of those tires.

"I think there's more of an urgency on their part to push this kind of legislation through, to try to stop the momentum of those who would have merit selection," he said.

The League of Women Voters of South Bend and the St. Joseph County Bar Association spoke against the bill during committee hearings. * * *

It's unclear what journey the bill will face in the Senate. Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Bray, R-Martinsville, could not immediately be reached for comment.

ILB - here is a clue: In late Oct., 2008, the interim legislative Commission on Courts, which Senator Bray chairs, voted in favor of expanding merit selection in Lake County and retaining merit selection in St. Joe County. See ILB entries from Oct. 28th and particularly Nov. 11th, 2008.

For background on HB 1491-2009, see this ILB entry from Feb. 10th and this one from Feb. 7th.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 13, 2009 07:45 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts