Money And Justice A Bad Mix That's Why It's Time For Merit Selection Of Judges

THREE TIMES OUT OF FIVE, at least one party to a civil case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2008 and 2009 had given a campaign contribution to one or more of the justices.

That's not saying that money had anything to do with an individual justice's decision, said the American Judicature Society, which released this analysis in a report last month. A justice may not even know if he or she was a beneficiary of one or more of the litigants, lawyers or law firms. Getting elected to the state's highest court takes a boatload of money, after all: The court's six elected justices had raised a combined $8 million to get where they were sitting. (That doesn't include the millions raised by their opponents.)

But ordinary Pennsylvanians - like most Americans - can't be blamed for wondering if campaign contributions do influence judicial decisions. So it's finally, finally time to start the lengthy process that will allow Pennsylvanians to vote on merit selection.

Not counted in the $8 million above was the money raised last year by the Supreme Court's newest member, Joan Orie Melvin, as part of the most expensive ($4.5 million) court election in Pennsylvania history. Orie Melvin, her opponent, Jack Panella, and their respective political parties raised the funds in large part from lawyers and other interest groups.

It got even worse a couple of weeks ago when two sisters of Melvin were indicted in Allegheny County for allegedly aiding her campaign illegally. One sister, state Sen. Jane Orie, was charged with using her staff to do campaign work on state time. Melvin hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, and both Orie sisters say the charges are - you guessed it - "politically motivated." But appearances would be a lot different if Pennsylvania didn't cling to its broken system of judicial elections.

Think it's bad now? Wait until the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opens the floodgates of contributions from corporations and special interests.