Why is the bipartisan commission made of retired judges?
Retired judges offer a number of unique attributes which other groups, or the general public, may not. (1)To start, they are relatively divorced from politics. It has been years since they were appointed by the General Assembly to serve as judges. Now that they’re retired, they’re even less likely to be influenced by political pressure — they don’t have a chip in the game as much as other people may. In a number of states, anyone can be on the redistricting commission. That just leads to party officials appointing their trusted lieutenants and most ardent partisan supporters. (2) Judges also have the training and experience to approach complex problems in a methodical manner. They’ve spent years making difficult decisions in a complex legal environment. Redistricting offers similar problems — it’s a difficult task in and of itself. But the many Supreme Court decisions on the issue as well as the impact of the federal Voting Rights Act make those attribute all the more valuable.
