Jiudge For Yourself.

Now, you know me, I would never find fault with our court system. However, Wisconsin shows up bright, to light a bit of a problem. Oh, alright, it points out a real blunder in our judicial system. Wisconsin, like many states, elect their justices, including their supreme court. Which means lots of money spent on the contests. Here's the rub. When is it advisable to recuse yourself, as a judge, from a case involving a major donor or the lawyer that defended you, or your cousin Vinnie? Well for some justices of the Wisconsin supreme court, the answer is "never", "under no circumstances". In fairness, if a corporate sponsor spends a lot of money getting you elected,. you'd better not chicken out when it comes time to rule in his or it's favor. Now in other states and the federal government, justices are appointed, for life or even longer. This isn't much, if any better. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to suggest that any judge would ever soil his or her reputation by being a party to any wrongdoing or even the appearance of wrongdoing. What I am suggesting is that they do it all the time. But claim they aren't. See, as long as they disavow any wrongdoing, then it's okay to do it. It's not that they're bad people. It's just that when you accept gifts from someone, there's almost always a string attached to it. Even if that string is only an expectation that you be fair and honest. So the problem isn't the string itself, it's the shape and size of the string. If you get my drift. There's gotta be a better way to settle on the folks that will settle on our conflicts. Maybe the legal bar associations in each jurisdiction should appoint two candidates which cannot accept any campaign financing other than public financing and no independent advertising, then the voters decide on which of those two will judge. It may not be the best, but it certainly is better than what's happening now. And that's my finding. And I disavow any connection to the bar.