A bill introduced yesterday would mandate that Supreme Court justices on the ballot for confirmation or retention prepare a short “statement” for inclusion in the state voter information guide. Court of Appeal justices and superior court candidates would also be required to prepare election statements under the legislation, Assembly Bill 265. The statements would appear only in the online version of the guide and there would be no fee for the statements.
Current law already requires the election guide to include (1) a description of how Supreme Court justices are appointed/nominated and confirmed before they appear on the ballot (Elec. Code, § 9083) (there’s a difference between appointment and nomination, but the statute doesn’t recognize the distinction) and also (2) “information on [the] justices” who are facing the voters (Elec. Code, § 9084, subd. (j)). The 2018 guide’s “information” on Justices Carol Corrigan and Leondra Kruger, who won their elections last year, were simple lists of their bar admission dates, undergraduate and graduate degrees, legal jobs, and judicial experience.
The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Steven Choi (R-Irvine). Cathal Conneely, public information officer with the Judicial Council, says the Council did not sponsor the bill but will be reviewing it “as a regular part of the process in the coming weeks as newly introduced bills are scheduled for legislative hearings.”
[January 29 update: Malcolm Maclachlan writes about the bill in the Daily Journal. The article reports that the bill’s author was motivated by his own experience as a voter and by constituent complaints of a lack of information about judicial candidates. The author is quoted as saying his “personal preference would be eliminating selecting judges through voting.”]
