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Voters should decide on judicial selection

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Shakopee Valley News editorial, March 27 

A proposed constitutional amendment that would change for the better the way judges are selected in Minnesota appears dead this legislative session. But that does not diminish its importance and the need for the question to go before Minnesota voters soon.

A group called Minnesotans for Impartial Courts, headed by former Republican Gov. Al Quie and Supreme Court Justice Alan Page proposed the change because of what they say are emerging threats to the fairness and impartiality of the courts. Quie started a merit-selection process for judges when he became governor in 1979.

Under the group’s proposal, judges would appointed by the governor from nominees forwarded by a judicial commission, which would nominate the most qualified candidates.

Another commission would evaluate their performances. Voters would later make regular decisions at the polls over whether to retain the judges.The plan has a large number of distinguished supporters, including former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson, former Minnesota Chief Justice A.M. (Sandy) Keith, retiring Minnesota Chief Justice Russell Anderson, former Republican U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, former Congressman Bill Frenzel and former Republican legislators such as George Pillsbury, Ed Oliver, Wayne Popham and Sheila Kiscaden, and former Minnesota Republican Party Chair Chuck Slocum.

So important is this amendment to Anderson that he spoke at legislative hearings about it last month and during his recent retirement address.

Anderson and others are very concerned — as are we — that this state’s judicial-selection process is heading down the path to unrestrained and undignified politicking and fund-raising. What has prompted the concern is a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that scrapped Minnesota's rules barring judicial candidates from voicing views about political or legal matters. The high court’s decision allows for political party endorsements and discussions of how a candidate might feel about potential court cases.

Anyone who gets fed up by the never-ending political commercials on TV should imagine those same kinds of no-holds-barred commercials about judicial candidates taking a stand on the issues of the day. In other states where this kind of politicking is allowed, high-powered and well-financed groups — many from out of state — bombard the airwaves with oftentimes outrageous commercials and claims. You know — like political ads.

What Anderson, Quie and many others are concerned about is judicial candidates’ making promises about how he or she would rule on a matter before the court.

Anderson said “the notion of a judge going out and making promises about how he will decide cases is repugnant to me. How would you like to walk into a courtroom and have to worry about the promises that a judge made?”

Anderson pointed out that judges face complicated decisions and unusual circumstances on a regular basis. The written law cannot account for each circumstance that comes before a judge.

“The laws they enact are in many ways words in a book until given meaning in the lives of people through the courts system,” said Anderson. “It is just so important that a judge be fair and impartial.”

The group’s plan will keep the judicial-selection process dignified and allow for the best candidates to be appointed and allow the public to decide whether he or she should retain the judicial seat.    

 


I totally agree with your...

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I totally agree with your position on Judicial selections. Here is some more liberal thinking to consider:

Background check - Mrs. Obama.....
Michelle Obama, wife of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama, shocked a lot of people recently when she said this: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY ADULT LIFETIME I AM PROUD OF MY COUNTRY.' Wow! That takes my breath away.

Mrs. Obama is 44 years old, so for over roughly 24 years of 'adulthood,' taking her at her word, she has never been proud of our nation.

Is there a theme here? You may remember that last year Senator Obama said he refused to wear a flag lapel pin because it represented a 'substitute for true patriotism.' And what precisely is true patriotism? According to Senator Barack Hussein Obama, it is opposing the war in Iraq.

Apparently nothing America did from 1982 to 2008 caused her heart to swell with pride. Not our successful effort to defeat Soviet communism and liberate millions of people in Eastern Europe? Not our relief efforts around the world, through which we spent billions to help the downtrodden?

Not anything? When she learned with all the rest of us how her fellow citizens on United Flight 93 bravely fought back against jih adist hijackers and prevented another disaster on September 11th, did she not fill up with pride?

As Americans of all races and classes rallied together in defense of our nation in the aftermath of September 11th, did her spirit not jump with love for her homeland? Apparently not.

The Obamas are living examples of the American Dream. Both Michelle Obama and her husband have Ivy League degrees. They make a joint income of over One Million Dollars a year. They live lives that most ordinary Americans can only dream of.

Yet, Mrs. Obama, who wants to be First Lady, has been unable to find the pride in America that millions of ordinary Americans feel every day.

Sadly, her attitude is not rare among leftwing American elites. We are 'educating' millions of Americans to be Globalists first and foremost, and we are doing precious little about educating our children to be Proud and Unashamed Americans.

The Obamas are flying high politically right now, but I don't believe many Americans will want to cast their votes this November for a couple so out of touch with traditional American values.

'For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,' Michelle Obama.....'What she meant was, this is the first time that she's been proud of the politics of America,' Barack Obama

HOWEVER, nowhere in there does she leave space for, allude to, or specify a reference to American politics.

She's a Princeton and Harvard educated lawyer, and she can't specify between her country and its politics???

ALSO, 'Why Is Michelle Obama's Princeton Thesis *Restricted* Until November 5th'?

1985 Princeton senior Thesis entitled: 'Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community,'

http://libweb5.princeton.edu/theses/thesesid.asp?ID=9867

Princeton University Senior Theses Full Record

TITLE: Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community [Restricted until November 5, 2008] (96 pages).

AUTHOR: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson (1985), Sociology Department ADVISOR: Not available

LOCATED AT: Mudd Library.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama lamented that white professors and classmates always saw her as 'Black first and a student second.' She had surveyed alumni to see whether they sacrificed their commitment to other blacks on the altar of success, and foresaw for herself an uneasy future: 'further integration and/or assimilation into a White cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant.'...

As Michelle Obama wrote in her thesis introduction, 'My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'Blackness' than ever before. I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong.'...

Michelle Obama was guided in her choice of thesis topic by a consuming concern that her success might compromise her black identity. As she wrote in her conclusion: 'I wondered whether or not my education at Princeton would affect my identification with the Black community. I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with Whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that Black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.'...

Michelle Obama's fears of losing touch with her roots without ever being embraced into the mainstream led her to promise, in her thesis introduction, 'to actively utilize my resources to benefit the Black community.'

Her thesis is the ONLY one on the 449-result long list *restricted until a specific date: November 5th*.

What's the significance of November 5th? Well, it's a Wednesday. OH, AND IT'S THE DAY AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION... !!!!!!


Submitted by oldman on April 8, 2008 - 11:31am.

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