In Defense of Judicial Elections by Chris W. Bonneau & Melinda Gann Hall

Author:Chris W. Bonneau & Melinda Gann Hall [Bonneau, Chris W. & Hall, Melinda Gann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: American Government, Campaigns & Elections, Judicial Branch, Political Science, Political Process, Courts, Law, General
ISBN: 9781135852696
Google: t3WQAgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17526592
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2009-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Public Financing of Judicial Election Campaigns

As we know, the electorate repeatedly has refused to relinquish the right to elect judges,1 rejecting judicial reform advocates’ most recent claims that appointment systems are necessary to correct for inherent deficiencies in elections to the American bench, including the seeming improprieties that flow from incumbent justices accepting campaign contributions and the purported negative impact of such actions on the legitimacy of courts. Whereas some influential scholars such as Geyh2 and Averill3 argue that nothing short of eliminating judicial elections will preserve independence and end the appearance of impropriety, others have become proponents of a more moderate reform: public funding of judicial elections.4 By enacting public financing schemes, states can minimize the private contributions from businesses and attorneys that give rise to the perception that these contributors are favored when these parties appear in court.5

Indeed, a recent national Zogby survey indicates that 79 percent of businesses polled believe that campaign contributions made to judges influence their decisions. Additionally, 73 percent support the public funding of campaigns. As we discuss below, the public feels much the same way as businesses. Of course, these perceptions of impropriety may be false or have no impact at all on the legitimacy of courts. Moreover, even if the perceptions are inaccurate, public financing would not have the same dramatic consequences as eliminating electoral processes altogether.

Practically speaking, public financing of campaigns is far easier to achieve and less controversial than eliminating elections or altering their format. Public financing schemes do not require constitutional amendments approved by voters but simply can be enacted by the legislature through the regular legislative process.

That being said, there are serious issues and drawbacks to such arrangements, which lead some reformers to argue that public financing does not go far enough to correct for the negative consequences of elections. At the same time, advocates on the opposite side of the fence question whether public financing systems serve the democratic process. Consider the most obvious of these drawbacks.

First, public financing may reduce private contributions to candidates but does not eliminate any of the money raised and spent by independent groups. Indeed, “restricting fundraising activities makes these other forms of campaign support more important and increases the influence of the groups that provide them.”6 This should be a critical concern to judicial reform advocates, since the heavy hand of interest groups, particularly single-interest actors, are precisely the focus of their fears. Overall, public financing may not reduce the total sums of money spent in campaigns (even with spending limits on candidates) but may simply shift spending from one set of political actors to another.

Along these same lines, spending limits might heighten the incumbency advantage, because challengers typically need to spend more than incumbents to do well (recall our discussion in chapter 4). Of course, this would be fine for judicial reform advocates who tend to view the incumbency advantage as sacred, but for those concerned with the accountability function this would be a highly negative result. Moreover, public financing and the spending limits that go with the program are voluntary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.