The Case for Political Appointment of Judges

This paper is the second in a series of papers commissioned by the Federalist Society on the debate surrounding the leading methods of judicial selection in the states. In the paper, Professor Brian Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt Law School makes the case that political appointment is the best way to select state judges. The first paper in the series made the case for partisan judicial elections, and a future paper will make the case for commission-based appointment (the Missouri plan).

Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public policy matters. Any expressions of opinion are those of the author. We welcome responses to the views presented here. To join the debate, please email us at info@fedsoc.org.