Good post Grant. Your fears are not unusual. Man...

2009-05-19T22:57:10.046-06:00

Good post Grant. Your fears are not unusual. Many folks have the same concerns. In fact it goes deeper and worse. In the "good old days" lawyers becam judges because they worked on political campaigns for successful candidates, usually in a bagman capacity. Nobody scruitinized the process or the qualifications of the appointees except the political process.
I can say as a lawyer that there was an individual independence assumed by those appointed to the bend even those terrible processes.

Now there is an independent committeed of legal professionals and lay people who vet and interview and check references for those candiddtes who personally put their names up considertation to serve on the bench. I have been a nominee for many such candidates for the bench and spent quite a bit of time in candid confidential conversations about various candidates.

I believe the committee provides the Minister of Justice a short list of three qualified candidates and the Minister can do tow things, pick one or reject them all and ask for another short list. That is the extent of the political discretion exercised these days. The process may have changed but it will be a variation on what I have said.

The quality of theses appointments are as vital to our democracy as are the quality of the people we elect to represent us in public office. Once again - good post Grant.

Comments on Voice of Grant: Why I think politicians should not become judges

Good post Grant. Your fears are not unusual. Man...