Litigation

Running for Election as ?God?s Ambassadors?

By Peter Hardin

This is a judicial election you’ll be hearing a lot more about: The conservative lawyers who are trying to unseat four San Diego Superior Court incumbents are “vowing to be God’s ambassadors on the bench,” according to an Associated Press article.

That eyepopping claim about candidates seen as sticking to the religious right’s moral agenda not only threatens impartial courts, but also the separation of church and state, critics contend.

And if voters want to transform courtroom benches to be more like some school boards, where Christian conservatives have shown their political muscle with such issues as prayers in classrooms, this could become an increasingly popular strategy, the critics say.

When Gavel Grab wrote recently about the San Diego elections, the news articles used as sources didn’t reveal the candidates’ fervor. This AP article, however, lifts the veil, with quotes like this from Craig Candelore, one of the candidates:

“We believe our country is under assault and needs Christian values….Unfortunately, God has called upon us to do this only with the judiciary.”

Responds one of the incumbents, Lantz Lewis:

“I have no problem with elections, but I think it really should focus on a judge’s qualifications, and it’s very difficult to think something good could come out of a partisan judicial election.

“I just don’t think judges should be in a situation, where they are asked, ‘Do you believe in God, abortion, gay marriage?’ “

Both sides portray this contest as a “battle for the integrity of the courts,” the article says. The election will be held June 8; the challengers are backed by pastors, firearms enthusiasts and foes of abortion and same-sex marriages. The movement behind the challengers is called Better Courts Now.

To learn about how the courts  are accountable to the law and not to religious arguments, check out the Justice at Stake publication “Crusading Against the Courts.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).