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Thursday, 19 February 2009 |
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| Associate Justice (retired) Sandra Day O'Connor |
CED, the Rehnquist Center at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, and Justice for All hosted a forum on judicial independence featuring United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired)
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[play part 2]
. Panelists included Peter Dunn
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, Director of Justice for All and Chairman of the Board of Western Pacific Storage Solutions; The Honorable Ruth V. McGregor
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, Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court; Michael Petro
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, Vice President of CED; and Sally Rider
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, Director of the Rehnquist Center.
Justice O'Connor warned that the independence of our state courts is jeopardized by competitive judicial elections that force judges to raise campaign funds from litigants and companies that may appear before them in court. The financial contributions threaten to undermine the impartiality of the court. O'Connor warned that no other country in the world elects judges. Sally Rider, Director of the Rehnquist Center and former State Department lawyer supported this statement and noted that protecting the courts from political influence and large financial contributions is essential to protecting rule of law. The US government frequently advises other countries to adopt merit selection systems but many states continue to utilize competitive judicial elections.
CED Trustees analyzed the influence of money in judicial elections in 2002 and released a statement entitled, Justice for Hire: Improving Judicial Selection. CED has since hosted forums around the country to raise awareness on protecting an independent judiciary.
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