WASHINGTON D.C., June 13, 2003 – A landmark American Bar Association report released today charts a new course for state judicial reform in the new century. The report, “Justice in Jeopardy,” by the ABA Commission on the 21st Century Judiciary, is the first to attempt to break the deadlock in the debate over appointment versus election of state judges. The report also provides a blueprint for states on how to restore eroding public trust and confidence in the courts and addresses widespread court funding problems brought about by the worst state budget crises since the Depression.

ABA President Alfred P. Carlton Jr. was joined today at a news conference that also featured honorary commission co-chair and former FBI Director William S. Sessions, Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead of the Supreme Court of Florida, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey of the Delaware Supreme Court.
“The time has come,” said Carlton, “to diversify America’s courts and to inoculate them against the toxic effects of money, partisanship and narrow interests.”

The report includes more than two dozen innovative recommendations on improving state courts, including several aimed at maintaining the judiciary’s institutional legitimacy, improving the mechanisms for selecting judges, and diversifying the bench.

Noting that judicial elections in some states have become extremely contentious in recent years and that, as a result, the American public is “becoming increasingly skeptical of the view that judges are political decision-makers who simply interpret and apply the law,” the report recommends several steps to reduce the influence of money and partisan politics in judicial elections.

The ABA has favored merit selection of judges for decades. This report goes beyond merit selection to recommend appointment of judges for a single, lengthy term, or until a specified age. The report also recognizes the political reality that 80 percent of American judges stand for election at some point in their career, and that most people prefer an elective system.

The report recommends new ways for states to improve judicial selection, regardless of whether they choose to elect or appoint their judges. In urging that judges not be subjected to reelection campaigns, for example, the commission sought to ensure that “justice does not turn on the outcome of popularity contests” and that judges need not solicit contributions from parties who may have interests in the outcome of cases they would decide as judges.

For states that cannot abandon reselection processes altogether, the commission recommends that those judges be subject to reappointment by a credible, neutral, non-partisan diverse deliberative body.

The report also addresses the impact of states’ ever-worsening budgetary woes on the courts. “Even though state governments are experiencing the worst fiscal crisis since the Depression,” said Carlton, “essential functions of the judiciary must be preserved. The legal profession must assist the judicial branch of government in that effort. The commission’s report will point the way for real reform of American judicial systems for many decades.”

The commission’s report also deals in length with the issue of diversity in the courts, including the fact that the courts do not reflect the increasing diversity of our nation.

“If certain segments of the public – defined along racial, ethnic, economic or other lines – do not have faith in the judiciary, we as a society must address this problem,” said Carlton. “We are becoming a more and more diverse society with each passing decade. Our courts must reflect that diversity, or our nation will face severe consequences.”

The report recommends a number of ways to improve diversity on the bench. It urges lawyers and judges to participate in aggressive outreach efforts aimed at encouraging minorities to attend law school, and recommends that members of the legal profession expand their use of training and recruitment programs to encourage minority lawyers to join their firms. It calls upon the courts to act aggressively to ensure that language barriers do not limit access to the justice system, and to take steps to improve and expand minority representation in jury pools.

Carlton convened the commission on the future of the judiciary last year to study and make recommendations on ensuring fairness, impartiality and accountability in state judiciaries. The commission held four public hearings, generating more than 1,000 pages of testimony, and conducted a national colloquium attended by more that 150 judges, lawyers, law and social science scholars, and interested citizens, to discuss possible solutions to the problems identified.

The conclusions contained in the report have not been considered or approved by the ABA House of Delegates, and do not reflect the official positions or policies of the Association. The House of Delegates is scheduled to consider the report’s recommendations at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in August.

Electronic copies of the report are available on the American Bar Association Web site at: www.abanet.org/media.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. With more than 410,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.