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November 9, 2009

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Letter: Electing judges is lesser of two evils

Saturday, May 26, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

The recent fiasco in Halverson vs. Hardcastle has evoked the proposal to appoint judges to the bench rather than elect them. Neither is a panacea as both have serious drawbacks.

As I see it, electing judges (as is currently done), opens the door to bribes or, at least, favorable decisions to campaign contributors - especially if those contributors are attorneys.

On the other hand, if appointed, those judges are answerable to those who appoint them. And those appointments will, likely, be made on the basis of politics, as is the case with U.S. Supreme Court justices. This gives the incumbents who make those appointments too much power. This results in the executive branch entering the jurisdiction of the judicial branch.

I am in favor of keeping the system as is. At least in this way the electorate has a voice in selecting those who will sit in judgment over them.

Glen J. Gillette, Las Vegas

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