WASHINGTON - February 21 - A major policy review commission has offered Minnesota a possible escape route from judicial election wars spreading rapidly across the country, said a national watchdog group that tracks judicial campaigns. The proposals advanced by the Quie Commission - including a switch to a system of merit selection with retention elections - offer a rare opportunity for Minnesota to reform its process for choosing judges, according to the Washington, DC-based Justice at Stake Campaign.

“In many other states that elect judges, special interest showdowns are pressuring judges to be accountable to the interest groups and politicians instead of the law and the constitution. By working to balance independence and accountability, the Quie Commission is giving Minnesota a chance—before the storm strikes—to keep its courts fair and impartial,” said Bert Brandenburg, executive director of Justice at Stake.

Across America, political partisans and special interest groups have transformed state judicial elections into nasty, expensive brawls driven by ideology, hot-button political issues and big money. Since 2000, candidates in the 22 states that use contested elections to choose their state high courts have raised over $150 million. Twenty of the 22 states have seen broadcast television advertisements, with many of these ads being aired by interest groups attacking judges over single decisions. Only Minnesota and North Dakota have not yet seen television ads in their state Supreme Court elections.

“No state that elects judges can avoid the new politics of judicial elections. And experience in other states shows that it’s much easier to reform judicial selection before elections grow costly and nasty,” Brandenburg added.

Should Minnesota switch to a constitutional system of merit selection with retention elections, it would become the 17th state in the nation to adopt that system for its highest court. Many other states use a similar system for choosing lower court judges as well.

Justice at Stake is a nonpartisan national partnership of more than 45 state and national organizations working to keep courts fair and impartial. Justice at Stake does not endorse any method for choosing judges, but urges every state that elects judges to enact reforms to insulate its courts from special interest pressure.

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