Evaluating Judges

87 percent of all state court judges face election to gain or retain their seats, according to the National Center for State Courts, with 39 states electing at least some of their judges. State courts in the United States are unique in the world—neither our own federal system, nor any other nation,...
May 25, 2011

How Court-Watching Supports Our Work

To support its mission of research-based advocacy, Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice operates several court-watching programs. Court-watching serves Appleseed’s dual purposes of research and advocacy particularly well and is a central component of all our research into how the courts are functionin...
May 3, 2011

New York’s Judicial Campaign Reform a Great Start

The New York Administrative Board of Courts recently issued a new rule that would prohibit judges from hearing cases where any one of the lawyers or parties on either side has contributed $2,500 or more to that judge’s election campaign. (The case will be transferred if a lawyer’s firm has contribut...
March 17, 2011

Illinois Supreme Court Requires Judges to Self-Evaluate

This week, the Illinois Supreme Court announced that it had amended Illinois Supreme Court Rule 58, “Judicial Performance Evaluation.” The amendment mandates that all Circuit Court and Associate judges be evaluated through a process to be administered through a contract with National Center for Stat...
March 3, 2011

Judges Should Be Evaluated for Performance, Not Politics

This post originally appeared at the Huffington Post. When a judge is weighing the merits of a case, the popularity of her decision should be the last thing on her mind. And when casting a ballot for a judge, performance, not political issues, should be a voter’s first concern. Yet, outcome-based j...
February 22, 2011