Court Watch - Written by Jere Beasley on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 8:27 - 1 Comment

Candidate for the Alabama Supreme Court calls for appointed judiciary

Deborah Bell Paseur, the Democratic candidate for the Alabama Supreme Court, favors appointing judges and letting voters decide if they should be retained. The Florence judge told the Birmingham chapter of The Federalist Society that the current system of partisan politics has led to judicial races that are too nasty and expensive. That, she said, has contributed to the public perception that “justice is for sale.” The suggested change would allow appellate judges to be chosen based on their qualifications. Of course, Alabamians would not lose their right to vote because they would decide each term whether the judge should keep the job, she said.


Judge Paseur, the first woman to practice law and to become a judge in Lauderdale County, said she would bring to the Supreme Court the same work ethic and judicial philosophy she showed in her 27 years on the bench. According to Judge Paseur, her court, which handled both criminal and civil cases, had one of the state’s largest caseloads and highest disposition rates. Judge Paseur was re-elected four times without opposition which shows her reputation as a judge who fairly applied the law to the facts of cases and did not follow any agendas. That’s good to hear and I believe that the people of Alabama will agree.

Source: Birmingham News




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Frank
Sep 17, 2008 10:35

I disagree with Judge Paseur on this issue. I think that taking the original decision away from the voters and putting it in the hands of back room politicians will only lead to an increase in politicizing the selection process. It is much harder to remove a judge with a vote then it is to elect one.

By giving this decision to the politicians, you will see an increase in trading favors to get on the courts. I think the premise that giving politicians the decision will fix the money problem is ridiculous. All you will do is shift the money to the politicians who make the decisions.

We need more transparency. Why hasn’t Paseur made her donor lists available yet?

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