Partisan election requirements should be ended

If Lady Justice is supposed to be blind to all who come before her, then she shouldn’t be subjected to politics. Unfortunately, partisan politics is part of the game in winning a seat on the bench in New Mexico.

Judicial races today draw intense political interest — even to the point of a political party central committee replacing a candidate who had cleared the merit selection process with one who hadn’t. A proposal to put the brakes on partisan politics in the judiciary has been added to the Roundhouse to-do list.

House Judiciary Chairman Zachary Cook, R-Ruidoso, has introduced House Joint Resolution 11, which would ask voters to amend the state constitution to eliminate partisan elections of judges. It would not apply to magistrates and justices of the peace, but would apply to state Supreme Court justices, and Court of Appeals, District Court and Metropolitan Court judges.

Currently, judges in those four courts are appointed by the governor from lists of candidates selected by a bipartisan nominating commission chaired by the dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Then, however, they must run in one partisan election, where they often face an opponent who has avoided the vetting of the nominating commission.

After that, judges face only nonpartisan retention elections. Voters in those elections have the benefit of reviews by the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

Cook’s resolution eliminates the partisan election step, which is a major flaw in a merit system.

In our three-pronged form of government, the judiciary by design is to be independent of both the executive branch and the legislative branch, and should not be subject to political influence or appearance of a conflict of interest.

New Mexico took a step forward when it adopted the modified merit/retention system that’s in place now.

Lawmakers should give voters the opportunity to finish the job and eliminate the partisan election requirement.

Over time, neither party will gain an advantage, but the people and the justice system will.

Neither money nor political party pressure should be a factor in New Mexico’s courtrooms. Lawmakers should pass this proposed constitutional amendment and let New Mexico voters decide if an influence-free way of selecting judges is what they want.

— Albuquerque Journal