Richmond Times-Dispatch: Let sun shine on judicial selection process

Pitchforks

Published: March 15, 2009

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/EDJUDGES_20090313-212208/231253/

Today marks the opening of Sunshine Week, which annually celebrates openness in government and public affairs. Sunshine Week recognizes the value of transparency. The principle is most often manifested in the Freedom of Information Act, requirements for open meetings by public bodies, and disclosure of finances and interests. Our focus today falls on judicial selection in Virginia.

Virginia is one of only two states in which the legislature has almost exclusive responsibility for selecting judges. Although cracks of light occasionally occur, for practical purposes the process takes place behind "closed doors," as The Washington Post reported earlier this month. It is time to open them.

Let us stipulate at the top that excellent individuals serve on the Virginia bench. Men and women with professional skills and personal character fill positions throughout the system -- from district courts through the Supreme Court. The process for naming judges, however, generates little confidence and when contention breaks out the General Assembly seems as likely to fan fires as to douse them. Citizens feel disenfranchised. They believe their concerns are not taken into account and complain they are not given straight answers. Critics raise serious questions.

The past session, for instance, saw controversy regarding judges in Chesterfield and Northern Virginia. The circumstances regarding Chesterfield Circuit Judge Timothy Hauler proved difficult for outsiders to decipher. The debate regarding the reappointment of Gaylord Finch Jr. to a Fairfax judgeship also created confusion. We will not comment on the particulars of the two examples here. Our point relates to proceedings the Ottoman Empire would have considered baffling, if not inscrutable.

Moreover, every so often the process breaks down and the Assembly's two chambers fail to fill vacancies, whereupon the governor makes the call. Surely it is significant that certain so-called breakthrough appointments have been made not by the Assembly but by the chief executive.

Virginians dissatisfied with the status quo have formed the Pitchfork Rebellion and intend to push for reform. According to The Post, rebels include disgruntled litigants. Sour grapes may motivate some. But direct involvement with the judicial system does not disqualify reformers; there may be good reasons for their disgruntlement.

The Times-Dispatch long has embraced merit selection. Openness would play a crucial role in a merit process, as judges would be nominated openly, would be debated openly, and confirmed in open votes. Merit would take judicial selection out of the darkness of caucus rooms and place it in the sunlight. Merit could be accomplished by authorizing governors to make nominations, which then would move through the legislative system in a manner similar to that seen in Washington. Or Virginia could create review panels that would formally recommend nominees for legislative consideration. There may be other means to achieve the desired end.

Open the curtains and the blinds; let in the sun.