appointive system

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed return to an appointive system in 1987.

The department did not rule out total conversion to an appointive system as a valid remedy.

The Justice Department said that the appointive system was also unfair to minority voters.

But it also conceded that an appointive system does not "necessarily produce more qualified judges or fewer corrupt ones."

But in recent years the national momentum toward appointive systems has slowed, despite growing concerns about increasingly politicized judicial races.

Many of the judges also argued yesterday that the appointive system was based more on merit than the traditional elective system.

Or it could convert to an appointive system with candidates proposed by merit-selection commissions broadly representative of the community and the bar.

The opposition to two referendums on the ballot in November has surprised supporters and raised questions about the feasibility of calls for appointive systems nationally.

Applying that doctrine, even a merit-based appointive system would not pass Voting Rights Act standards.

Almost two-thirds said they favored court restructuring, and 49 percent said they would vote to change from an elective to an appointive system for judges.

In Florida, a ballot measure in November gave voters the opportunity to replace elections for trial court judges with an appointive system.

Republicans, by and large, favor judicial elections; Democrats (and O'Connor) support appointive systems.

It would also enable those seeking judgeships without support from the powerful to compete on a level playing field - something that an appointive system rarely provides.

The county's political party leaders argue that cross-endorsement protects the interests of voters, who they say have been ill-served under both the elective and appointive systems.

And in the city, Mr. Brown said, the appointive system is "dead even" with the elective in the number of female and minority judges.

In Alabama, The Birmingham News said in an editorial last month that the state ought to move toward an appointive system of selecting judges.

In the Northeast, most states, including New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, have appointive systems for the highest courts.

Instead of continuing to press for appointive systems, some are advocating measures that would make elections less combative or that would limit political contributions to judicial candidates.

Mr. Diaz, whose group is Citizens for an Open Judiciary, said the questions about the commissions showed that the appointive system was as political as any election.

The fate of the proposals here is being watched carefully across the country by supporters of appointive systems, which have been adopted as reforms in many states since the 1940's.

Although an appointive system would still not give voters a choice, Judge Wachtler said, the process would provide a bipartisan screening panel to identify the candidates with the best credentials.

The most notable exception was former Governor Malcolm Wilson, who said replacing the long-established elective system with an appointive system would be "papa-knows-bestism in its most aggravating form."

In a year when aggressive judicial politicking has drawn calls for reform in many states, Florida voters will decide whether to end political campaigns for trial courts in favor of an appointive system.

These included an amendment to the State Constitution ending the discredited system of electing judges to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, and replacing it with an appointive system.

This temporary relief gives the state more time to consider replacing the sham-democratic scheme with an appointive system like the one that has provided diverse, competent judges for the highest court, the Court of Appeals.