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Supreme Court of Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer today joined prominent California leaders from government, the justice system and the civic and academic communities in exploring the political pressures that threaten the fairness and impartiality of the judicial branch.
At the first public hearing of its kind in California, Chief Justice Moyer addressed the Commission for Impartial Courts, which was appointed in 2007 to study and recommend ways to ensure judicial impartiality and accountability of California courts.
The event is being watched nationally as an important forum on the issue of supporting independent courts. The testimony gathered at today’s public forum will be used by the California commission’s four task forces in their ongoing study of judicial selection and retention, judicial candidate campaign conduct, judicial campaign finance and public information and education.
Chief Justice Moyer was invited to speak because of his extensive work in this area. He is a member of the board of directors of the Justice at Stake Campaign, a national partnership working for fair and impartial courts, and is chair of the Conference of Chief Justices Task Force on Politics and Judicial Selection. He has worked to support legislative proposals to increase the reporting requirements for judicial campaign contributions and improve the method of selecting judges in Ohio.
Chief Justice Moyer has long been a proponent of an appointed system of selecting judges who would then “run” on their record at a retention election. In 2003, Chief Justice Moyer convened a judicial impartiality conference of representatives of the bar and judiciary as well as from business, labor and civic groups that produced proposals to increase the education and professional experience of judicial candidates, lengthen the term of office for judges, provide more candidate information to voters and strengthen the reporting requirements of organizations that seek to influence the outcome of judicial campaigns. In addition, several recommendations of the 1994 Citizens Committee on Judicial Elections, were adopted by the Supreme Court including the first limits on campaign contributions and expenditures; prohibitions on accepting contributions from court employees and vendors; mandatory training for judicial candidates; and expedited procedures for hearing campaign-related grievances.
Today his remarks focused on the record spending on judicial races and the increase in negative campaigning over the last decade in multiple states across the country. “By-in-large, voters reject negative campaigns. They instinctively know that many of the issues raised in negative campaigns have little, if nothing, to do with a judge’s ability to preside over cases,” Chief Justice Moyer said. “What troubles voters is the growing need for contributions to judicial campaigns. Almost every survey concludes nearly three out of four people believe the need to raise campaign contributions affects the decision of judges.”
Contact: Chris Davey or Bret Crow at 614.387.9250.