Robert Heim on Building a Better Bench: The Case for Merit Selection of Judges

Robert will tell us that Pennsylvania stands out as one of only seven states that turn their appellate court candidates into politicians. The barrage of advertising in this year's election for one open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court showed just how intense that process can be. Even if you followed the campaigns, understood the issues being framed, "knew" the candidates – even then, you may have missed final estimates of how much money was spent on the election. It was about $20 million, spent by the campaigns, by political action committees, and by other groups and "big-money" donors. That level of spending is an overt sign of politicization in the initial selection of judges. Less obvious is the potential cost to sitting judges who hear cases knowing that complex, nuanced rulings can provoke well-funded, misleading campaign attacks. Bob will discuss research showing the impact of election pressures on the courts and will make the case for merit selection of judges to better support fairness and objectivity in the judicial system.

Robert Heim brings a well-informed perspective to this Roundtable as co-founder of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. During his career, he has also been Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association and President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. He is an elected Fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and he served two three-year terms on the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, appointed by late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.