PROBLEMS OF JUDICIAL SELECTION AND TENURE

III
– Some Proposals to Improve Selection Methods

A special plan for New Jersey was submitted to the New Jersey State Bar Association some years ago.27 “Minutes of the Annual Meeting,” 1 N. J. State Bar Assn. Quart. 56 (July, 1934). This provided for the establishment of a non-political state board to recommend judicial appointments to the Governor, the board to be composed of the president of the State Bar Association and officers of other state associations including commerce, labor, etc. An interesting reaction to this plan was the immediate response of the then gubernatorial candidates who telegraphed to the annual meeting of the State Bar Association that they would welcome such recommendations on judicial appointments.

An analysis of the current proposals for the selection of judges has revealed that any plan which would combine all of the best features would probably be one such as follows: appointment by the governor from a list of eligible lawyers selected by a commission consisting of representatives of the various courts, the legislature, the bar, labor and commercial groups; appointments to vacancies in the courts above the trial court restricted to those judges who have had a certain minimum of experience in the trial courts, with all appointments to be announced 30 days before going into effect and subject to withdrawal during that period by the Governor; appointments to be for a definite term, at the end of which time the judge would be a candidate for election without opposition, the question on the ballot being whether or not he should continue in office; the nominating commission to be organized on a permanent basis with definite terms for its members (unpaid, but with a salaried staff), and responsible for the efficient operation of the courts; this commission to have full power to investigate the conduct of any judge and, after investigation, to bring charges of misconduct or of incapacity to conduct the affairs of his office against him directly in the Supreme Court.28 This summary was prepared by Paul H. Sanders, a member of the Texas bar and assistant to the Director of the National Bar Program; “Appointment of Judges, etc.,” Amer. Bar Assn. J., vol. 22, p. 131, February 1936.

IV – Qualifications, Salaries and Terms

(A) Qualifications

Once the method of selecting a judge has been determined, the next question is, what should his qualifications be? The majority of the states require that judges must be citizens of the United States and a resident within the state for a certain period of time. A minimum age is also established in a majority of the states, which ranges from a minimum of 35 to 21 years, with 20 of the states setting up a 30-year age minimum.

The requirement of legal experience is more prevalent than any other single qualification. Thiry-nine jurisdictions require that the judges must be “learned in the law,” while 25 demand actual legal

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