Show f II i 1 iI I A Playing Political Games With Judges c r 1 l t By John W. W Gardner t It would shock many Americans to know that Federal judges those judges those robed black-robed symbols of i integrity integrity are are often chosen for their lofty posit positions positions t on the basis of cronyism and politics Wed We'd like to think that our Federal judges are chosen for the highest considerations of personal personal personal per per- fitness But in fact His Honor may hold f his post solely because he held the right political cards and played them shrewdly fa Theoretically the President chooses federal judges But by long tradition federal judgeships judgeships judge judge- l ships are political plums that Senators are privileged to hand out Sometimes they hand the plum to a good jurist sometimes to a political political political cal crony sometimes to someone they're indebted to A rotten system but most Senators Senators Senators Sena Sena- tors love it And they'll hang on to it unless the citizens pry it loose Congress should pass a law creating a ai i national system of merit selection of judges e But they're not about to give away their political political political cal plums President Carter in his campaign called for just such a national system to cover not only federal judges but US U.S. attorneys But when he took office he decided not to challenge the Senate on their entrenched political privileges He issued a weak executive order establishing a US U.S. Circuit Judge Nominating Commission which does not cover either federal district judges or US U.S. Attorneys It covers only circuit judges As for the rest the President simply suggests to Democratic Senators that they appoint merit selection commissions in their states If Congress wont won't act and the President wont won't act theres there's still the voice of the citizen When citizens get mad enough and raise enough hell politicians listen This one is worth getting mad about Right now wo we have an historic opportunity F FA A former Secretary of Health Education and t Welfare John Gardner is the Founding Chairman Chairman Chairman Chair Chair- man of Common Cause The US U.S. Senate recently passed a bill creating additional district judgeships there are arenow arenow arenow now and 35 additional circuit judgeships there are now 97 This bill S. S 11 still 11 still pending in Congress deliberately Congress deliberately omits any provision for merit selection In addition to the new judgeships 23 vacancies exist in the federal district court and nine in the circuit courts This means that in time a quarter of the total number of federal judges will be Carter appointees Its It's a perfect moment to institute a new system But politics as usual seems to be the order of the day and nothing is going to happen happen hap hap- pen unless citizens stiffen the spine of their elected representatives Tell your two US U.S. Senators to establish for your state a federal judicial selection commission commission commis commis- I sion to assist them in making suggestions to the President of candidates for federal district judge and US U.S. Attorney If your Senators say that's impractical tell them that their Senate colleagues from California Colorado Iowa Kentucky Pennsylvania and Oklahoma already i have established excellent systems for merit selection Remind them that both the American J Bar Bur Association and the prestigious American Judicature Society are solidly for merit selection tion At a time when lawlessness extends from the lowest to the highest levels of society a judiciary judi judi- judiciary i ciary infected with cronyism and political i is intolerable Its It's bound to increase the cynicism of citizens If youre you're fed up seeing politicians play their 1 little games with our system of justice you'll 4 write soon j |