Chicago DUI attorney comments on the impact on justice when judges are elected

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here about bond.  She’s even mentioned here how one could post bond and still be detained.  Things are changing.  Sometimes, that's not necessarily for the best.

Recently, there seems to be an increase in judges being pro-government with defendants.  This is sheerly, anecdotal, but ever since those media stories came out about judges being "soft" on speeders judges seem to be more akin to the "book 'em Danno" school of justice.  I'm specifically, talking about judges that are elected and I've appeared before them enough to be a bit surprised by this new way of operating.  It could always just be a coincidence right?

In our ever connected world of 24/7 news, you quickly realize that some judges know they are elected.  What’s the problem with being elected?

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner doesn’t think it works too well.

May 20, Chicago, IL

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor urged Illinois to replace its controversial judicial elections with an appointive "merit selection" system Wednesday.

"In 2004, there was a race for the Illinois Supreme Court, right here," O'Connor told a meeting of the Chicago Bar Association at the Hilton. "It cost just over $9 million for that race. As you might have guessed, the winner of that race got his biggest contributions from a company that had an appeal pending before the Illinois Supreme Court. You like that?"

O'Connor was referring to Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, who won a hard-fought race Downstate, then voted -- as part of a unanimous court -- to throw out a $1.2 billion class-action suit against State Farm Insurance, which had given Karmeier $350,000. He was part of a 4-2 majority that dismissed a $10 billion verdict against Philip Morris.

"Sounds a lot like the Caperton case, doesn't it?" O'Connor said, referring to a West Virginia case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a judge was out of line ruling on behalf of a mining company that largely funded his campaign.

In Karmeier's case, Illinois' Judicial Inquiry Board found no ethical violation. "The single greatest threat [to the judiciary] is the flood of money coming into our courtrooms by way of increasingly expensive and volatile judicial campaigns," O'Connor said.

 No, it’s not always a good thing if judges are elected.  They have all of the fears and concerns of a politician and yet they are supposed to be beyond reproach when ruling.  Can we agree it could be difficult to do the right thing if it’s unpopular with the voters?