“JUDICIAL ELECTIONS ON TRIAL”
By Tim Tingelstad
Candidate for the Minnesota Supreme Court

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            The original intent of the Minnesota Constitution was for the people to elect our judges, and for the Governor to appoint judges only when vacancies arise between elections.  But over time, without amending the Constitution, the Minnesota Supreme Court created a meaningless judicial election process, which the U.S. Supreme Court has now determined was unconstitutional.  As a result, for the first time in decades, Minnesotans have an opportunity to become informed about their judicial candidates.

But our current Minnesota Supreme Court Justices oppose meaningful, contested judicial elections, and are lobbying to replace them with “Merit Selection with Retention Elections” (hereinafter MSRE).  They argue that judicial campaigns will become too expensive, too negative, and too influenced by partisan politics and special interest groups.  A closer look at these arguments is necessary. 

• Meaningful, contested, non-partisan judicial elections keep our courts accountable to the people.  MSRE would make the judicial branch accountable to the executive branch, which violates the principle of separation of powers.
• Under MSRE, the people never elect a judge.  An “election” is the act of selecting one or more from others.  A “retention election” does not include a second candidate, so it is not an “election.”
• MSRE would not remove politics from the judicial selection process, it would simply hide the politics from the people.  The politics would be condensed into small, unelected and unaccountable committees.   
• Retention elections would always result in negative campaigns.  The Retention Committee would campaign against the judge that the Committee determines to be unqualified, by making the public aware of all of the judge’s faults.  
• MSRE would not eliminate special interest groups from impacting the judicial selection process.  Instead, MSRE would increase the influence of two very powerful special interest groups: (1) the Selection Committee, and (2) the Retention Committee.   
• History raises concerns about the judicial appointment process.  Four of our seven Minnesota Supreme Court Justices were appointed after serving on the Judicial Selection Commission.  Do committees serve the people or themselves? 
• MSRE would result in reduced confidence in our courts.  MSRE will result in lifetime judicial appointments, like in our federal courts.  But the unaccountability of federal courts has been the major cause of lost confidence in all courts.
• Expensive judicial campaigns take place when judges ignore the original intent of our Constitution.  We should be grateful that people are willing to invest in the cause of holding our courts accountable.

Judicial elections are on trial, and the people of Minnesota are the judges.    To let your voice be heard on these issues, contact Citizens for Truth and Light, 215 Paul Bunyan Dr. NW, Box 171, Bemidji, MN 56601 or visit “HighestHill.com”.