Large bipartisan majorities believe that campaign cash does indeed influence the behavior of elected judges, according to a recent national Harris poll commissioned by the Justice at Stake Campaign.
The American mainstream wants courts to be off-limits to special-interest money and partisan politics.The new polling shows that the desire for impartial courts is broad and bipartisan.
says Bert Brandenburg, executive director of Justice at Stake, a nonpartisan campaign with more than 50 partner groups.
Key results from the survey:
71 percent of Democrats, and 70 percent of Republicans, believe campaign expenditures have a significant impact on courtroom decisions. All told, 71 percent of voters share this assessment; only 23 percent believe campaign expenditures have little or no influence on elected judges.
82 percent of Republicans, and 79 percent of Democrats, say a judge should not hear cases involving a campaign supporter who spent $10,000 toward his or her election. Instead, adults said, a neutral judge should hear such cases. This view was held by 81 percent of all adults; only 8 percent of the American public believes an elected judge should stay on cases involving major campaign backers.
88 percent of Republicans, and 86 percent of Democrats, say that “all campaign expenditures to elect judges” should be publicly disclosed, so that voters can know who is seeking to elect each candidate. Among all adults, 87 percent favor full disclosure of campaign expenditures in court elections, and only 8 percent are opposed.
69 percent of all adults, including 73 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats, said they support a menu of reforms to reduce special interest influence in the courtroom. Potential reforms raised in the survey included public financing of state court elections and systems in which judges are appointed to the bench, but require periodic voter consent to stay on the bench.
The Michigan Lawyer 