In: Economics
How do other methods of judicial selection, such as the merit selection system, address accountability and independence?
Merit selection system means that the judges get selected by a nonpartisan commission of lawyers andnon-lawyers who nominate three highly qualified persons for the post of the judge and send it to the governer. The governer then has to choose one of the 3 people as the judge.
This results in independence as the selection process is free from partisan politics and can't be manipulated by politicians or executive. Since the peersons being nominated also dont need to file nomination, run on a platofrm, raise money etc., they remain free of influence from businessman, lobbyists etc.
But that does not mean that they have no accountability after becoming judges. After an initial term of office, judges are evaluated on the basis of their performance on the bench by a retention commission or by the voters in an uncontested retention election. Judicial performance is similarly re-evaluated for each subsequent term. This provides an opportunity toremove from office those who do not fulfill their judicial responsibilitie