Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by isostatic on Monday June 04, 2018 @03:04AM
(#17225268)
Why do Americans elect local judges, but not Supreme Court judges?
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Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by WiseWeasel on Monday June 04, 2018 @03:17AM
(#17225326)
It's a terrible idea either way. People usually vote for local judges knowing only the candidate's occupation (since it's indicated below their name). Doing research on candidates is hard work, especially local ones you can't find on YouTube, and few will consider leaving a choice blank if they don't know who to pick.
Supreme Court justices are appointed to lifetime positions specifically to give them the freedom to ignore politics and use their literal best judgment (if they can make it through congressional approval). What kind of supreme judge gets subjected to judgment every few years?
Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by umanwizard on Monday June 04, 2018 @10:58AM
(#17228329)
Supreme Court judges are not elected because they’re federal judges, and no federal judges are elected. It has nothing to do with how “supreme” they are.
Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by umanwizard on Monday June 04, 2018 @10:56AM
(#17228313)
The US has fifty different independent justice systems run by sovereign, independent States. Each of those States has the power to appoint judges in whatever manner it wants, so of course you get some variety. It’s not like “America decided” to have local judges be elected.
Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by isostatic on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @05:29AM
(#17236111)
No, Americans decided (via their states) that they wanted to elect judges. Why? Do you elect teachers? Firefighters?
Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by jessaustin on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @05:42PM
(#17242349)
Back when this was originally decided, most Americans did not have the right to vote. It would be nice if we could reconsider decisions like this now that we do have that right, but not only because we could come up with a different way to hire judges...
Re:Why Children Aren't Behaving and What We Can Do About It
by umanwizard on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @09:04AM
(#17237224)
No, not all States have elected judges. Only some do. I agree that electing judges is idiotic so I'm not sure what you're trying to convince me of.