Voters are often puzzled about which judicial candidates to vote for. Contestants for nonpartisan judgeships are usually not well known, and rarely have the track records that elected politicians have. But there’s a “right” way to pick judicial candidates for state Supreme Court on your ballot — and a wrong way.
Judges are important. At the trial court level, they deal with criminal cases and civil disputes day in and day out, listening to the evidence, supervising juries and ruling on points of law. Members of the State Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court focus solely on legal issues, addressing questions case-by-case, and interpreting and developing law based on briefs and oral arguments from lawyers.
Judicial work is pretty technical. Should the public be asked to choose judges the same way they select political candidates? Maybe so, maybe not. But we have been electing our judges in Washington since statehood in 1889. Washington’s founders felt that elected judges would be more independent of special interests if they were responsible directly to the voters. About half the 50 states elect judges, and the other half select jurists by merit selection or gubernatorial appointments, with some adding periodic voter confirmation.
Despite the current politicized climate in which judges are routinely attacked for their decisions and given labels like “Obama judges” or “Trump judges,” most jurists aren’t political — they’re not supposed to be. They make decisions impartially based on facts, evidence and complex legal arguments. The Washington Supreme Court is viewed as moderate to progressive, which reflects the fact that many of the justices were initially appointed by Democratic governors when vacancies arose. But their frequent divisions and dissents mean that individual justices are “calling them the way they see them,” and they certainly don’t all see things the same way.
This means that it’s hard to predict how any particular judge is going to rule on a specific issue. That makes a voter’s job pretty hard when it comes to judicial races. How is a responsible citizen supposed to choose? Here are some suggestions:
● Read the candidates’ Voters Pamphlet statements carefully, even though their stated judicial philosophies might be hard to differentiate. Notice the individuals or groups endorsing them. They might be endorsed by other judges, who are permitted to publicly support judicial candidates.
● Look for their legal and judicial experience. How long has a candidate been a lawyer, and what kind of practice? Has the candidate served as a judge, a court commissioner, or in a pro-tem (part-time) judicial capacity?
● Study the judicial evaluations from various lawyer groups such as the King County Bar Association, Washington Women Lawyers, the Washington State Veterans Bar Association and other specialty Bar groups. Those organizations interview and then rate judicial candidates “Highly Qualified,” Well Qualified,” “Qualified” or “Unqualified.” A warning flag should go up for judicial hopefuls who have avoided ratings by attorneys associations.
● Read newspaper and other media endorsements of judicial candidates. Editorial panels carefully study the backgrounds of and conduct intense interviews of judicial aspirants. Their recommendations merit consideration.
● Review political party endorsements. They can help one understand the background views of judicial hopefuls. At the same time, voters should never think that their favored party’s recommendation means a judge will rule their way in specific cases. Our judges pride themselves on their independence, avoid preconceived notions and try hard to stick to the law as it develops.
● If you know a lawyer or judge personally, don’t hesitate to ask for their judicial election recommendations.
The following are things that voters should avoid doing when deciding on judgeship contenders:
● Do not decide based on candidate’s name or apparent ethnicity. Neither tells you anything about how good a judge that person will be. In any event, your assumptions could be wrong.
● Don’t choose based on how you think a judicial candidate will decide on your favorite topic. That guess is unreliable, and you could easily be disappointed down the road because it is so hard to predict how individual judges and justices will rule on an issue.
● Do not pick judicial candidates randomly.
Voting is a real responsibility, so voters should study judicial candidates carefully.
