What are the pros and cons of the merit appointment system of selecting judges?
As far as I am concerned, there are a lot of pros and really no cons that I think are valid concerns. The pros are numerous, but what they boil down to is that you want your judges to make their decisions based on the law, not based on what public opinion says or what people who can contribute lots of money to campaigns think. If you have a non-political body set up to recommend potential appointees (and you let the governor pick which one(s) to actually appoint) then the potential appointees will be selected on legal expertise, not for political reasons. The only con I can see is that this takes some power away from the voters. However, I do not think that the voters are the ones who should decide how to interpret the laws.
