Judicial reform

• Judicial Reform As Political Insurance: Argentina, Peru, and Mexico in the 1990s

[...] while constitutional revision usually requires broad political support, the congressional legislation needed to enact judicial reform generally involves a simple majority - a hurdle easily passed by the ruling party. [...] the ruling party usually finds that it has the requisite majority to dictate the legislation for judicial reform; it can tailor reforms to suit its needs, or it can neglect the process altogether.

• Justice System Journal
• Vol. 30 Nbr. 2, May 2009

• Bolling Hangs Tough On Judicial Reform

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling will never be mistaken for a maverick. The Republican has perfected the art of caution over many years in politics. So his rebuke of Virginia's dysfunctional method for selecting judges is note-worthy because it was directed at both Democrats and his fellow Republicans. Indeed, with the GOP essentially in control of both chambers of the legislature, Bolling's demand for reform puts the greater pressure on his own party. Bolling correctly describes the current process as "horse trading," which is more polite than the unseemly exercise in cronyism, nepotism and political mischief deserves. He's also on the right track in search of a cure. Bolling advocates for creation of a bipartisan commission that would measure judicial candidates on merit, not partisa...

• Roanoke Times & World News
• December 19, 2011

• Conference Considers Judicial Reform

Next steps In wrapping up the program, conference organizer Norman Greene described working groups that will be formed to address the broad topics of recusal, judicial selection and performance review, civics education, and business partnerships, and to develop action plans for reform.

• Judicature
• Vol. 92 Nbr. 2, September 2008

• Recent Reform Of Ukrainian Judicial System.

The latest judicial reform in Ukraine was effected through the On Judicial System and the Status of Judges Act of Ukraine which came into force on 30 ...

• Mondaq Business Briefing
• Nbr. 2011, January 2011

• Governor Signs Orders to Begin Judicial Reform Study

Gov. Joe Manchin created an Independent Commission on Judicial Reform by executive order April 3, at the sane time he encouraged the death of Senate Bill 311, according to bill sponsor Sen. Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall. The panel will study adopting merit-based judicial selection, enacting judicial campaign finance reforms or reporting requirements and creating an intermediate court of appeals.

• State Journal, The
• September 08, 2009

• Report Urges New Court of Appeals: ; Change Tops Recommendations From State Judicial Reform Panel

West Virginia should create a new appeals court to unburden the state Supreme Court, a judicial reform panel appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin recommends. In a 151-page report released late Sunday, the 10-member Independent Commission on Judicial Reform also calls for the Legislature to bring order to the process governors use to fill judicial vacancies.

• Charleston Daily Mail
• November 17, 2009

• Judicial Reform: ; Survey: Public Mixed On Financing; Committee Probing Judiciary Holds First Meeting, at Marshall

HUNTINGTON - Almost three-quarters of West Virginians surveyed favor adopting public financing for statewide judicial elections similar to North Carolina's program, a pollster told members of the Independent Commission on Judicial Reform on Friday. However, 56 percent of the 1,366 voters surveyed said they are against public funding in general for elections, said Jonathan Crook, a rising senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who served as a summer fellow at Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C.

• Charleston Gazette
• August 31, 2009

• St. Louis Could Lose Four Judges: Judicial Reform Bill Would Also Redraw Eight Circuits

Missouri's decades-old judicial circuits could be ready for an update. A House committee on Tuesday heard testimony in a bill that would make eight existing judicial circuits more compact. The bill would also move four judges from the city of St. Louis to high-growth counties in the southwestern part of the state. The city currently has 38 judges.

• Missouri Lawyers Media
• February 28, 2012

• Jury Out On Judicial Campaign Reform

The fact that the contributions come from lawyers is not something that I'm concerned with," says [Sarah Parker]. "A lawyer appearing before the court is in a representative capacity and they represent different clients before the court. It's not like you're getting money from a litigant. "The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment to say that giving money is a form of speech," Duke says. "It can be regulated. But it is a form of free speech." In 2005 Duke joined appellate judge Barbara Jackson and the N.C. Right to Life Committee Fund as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against several state officials, arguing that the public financing law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. "We're finding that overall, the proportion of money from a...

• Independent Weekly, The; Durham, N.C.
• August 11, 2009

• W.VA. SUPREME COURT ETHICS: ; Manchin setting up Commission on Judicial Reform

Whether last week's ethics ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court influences West Virginia's judicial branch likely will hinge on what emerges from Gov. Joe Manchin's new court study commission. The 5-4 decision faulting state Chief Justice Brent Benjamin for failing to recuse himself from a case speaks to several of the topics that Manchin has assigned his nine-member Independent Commission on Judicial Reform.

• Charleston Gazette
• June 16, 2009