Scott Horton, international law and human rights lawyer who blogs for Harper's has a recent post in which he notes the heavily Republican-weighted federal judiciary. Of the 678 judges, he writes, about two-thirds of them are Republican, and two-thirds of those Republican judges were appointed by George W. Bush. These appointed judges tend to be the most politically ideological. Horton highlights one particular judge from Texas, Sharon Keller, "the senior judge of the state’s court of criminal appeals." Keller was elected when George Bush was elected, and she has proven to be extremely conservative, a "hanging judge." Most troubling is her handling of the case of a mentally retarded man incarcerated for rape and murder. Even though recent DNA tests indicated that the semen in the victim was not Roy Criner's, Keller refused to allow the man a new trial. However, public outrage over her judgment was so wide-spread that President Bush pardoned Criner. Now Keller is being investigated for other abusive conduct.
As Horton points out, it's unusual for federal judges to be held accountable in such ethical breaches. Recently, the Supreme Court deliberated on a case that focused on campaign contributions and the impartiality of judges: Should judges step aside from a case when it involves a supporter who contributed large amounts of money to that judge's campaign? The case involves a judge in West Virginia who received a contribution of $3 million from a supporter who was later a party in a lawsuit over which the judge presided.
According to a study by political scientists Chris Bonneau of the University of Pittsburgh and Damon Cann of Utah State University, "campaign contributions appear to affect the outcome of cases in states where judges are elected in partisan contests." Which states did the professors study? Michigan and......Texas. Because the study focuses only on these two states, the study is small, but Cann and Bonneau are planning a larger study that will draw information from ten states.
Just something to think about........
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