Miscellaneous

Judicial Selection in Los Angeles

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Everyone hates judicial elections, or some aspect of them. Court-o-rama hates them less than you do. Power to the people!

But what kind of power, and which people? Two pols in L.A. took a break from screenplay-writing to dialogue about (note: we hate that phrase almost as much as we hate backroom appointments, but it sounded L.A.-ish) judicial elections in L.A. County.

The main advice these commentators have for the public is: get some advice! But from whom? The Republican says not to trust the bar recommendations because their rankings waver from year to year, inexplicably.

The Dems literally do not have a dog in this race: they aren't endorsing anyone.

Both sides bemoan the "confusion and lack of information voters face when it comes to voting for judges. Our system does not make this an easy task for those who desire to make an informed choice, and our usual sources of information such as the media often don't rise to the challenge."

We are tempted to remove the words "for judges" from the excerpt above/supra.

Yet, somehow this system must work at least some of the time. We have worked with some very able L.A. judges. This is one of the largest, perhaps *the* largest, court systems in the free world. They are bombarded with hijinks from shoplifting starlets, not-so-grown up former child stars, and grandstanding attorneys, not to mention media throngs that descend on the courthouse steps like cicadas any time anyone remotely famous walks through the doors.

Nevetheless, for a good read on how the process works in L.A., see How to Judge the Judges, Mike Spence and Eric C. Bauman, L.A. Times (May 29, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on May 29, 2008 (boomark / email).