Choosing West Virginia' Judges
![handle is hein.journals/qlr20 and id is 777 raw text is: CHOOSING WEST VIRGINIA'S JUDGES'
The Honorable Larry V. Starcher*
[M]any months of reading opinions from the six states canvassed here creates
a strong subjective impression that a judicial vibrancy exists in West Virginia
and Pennsylvania that simply is not found in Virginia and Rhode Island. As a
general rule, the decisions from the legislatively selected benches are laconic,
prosaic, and sterile. Contrariwise, those from the elected courts (especially
West Virginia's) are vigorous and often inspiring. I
[T]he experience of most jurisdictions with merit selection plans has not been
the elimination of political considerations from judicial selection, but the
substitution of some kinds of political forces by others.2
For more than 125 years, West Virginians have used open,
competitive, and partisan elections to choose our judges-as required by
our constitution.
Nevertheless, in recent years it has been suggested that by
eliminating judicial elections, and by adopting a purportedly non-
political system of merit-based judicial appointment, we would have
better judges and more dignity and respect for our judicial system.
There are at least two perspectives that may underlie such
suggestions for changing West Virginia's judicial selection process.
One perspective is the idealistic and unselfish desire to improve
t This article was originally published in 12 W. VA. LAW., Oct. 1998, at 18, and is
reprinted with permission of The West Virginia Lawyer. The Quinnipiac Law Review
Association has modified this article to comply with QLR publishing guidelines.
* The author was elected as judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in 1976,
1984, and 1992. He was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in
1996. The author is grateful for the assistance of Thomas W. Rodd, Supreme Court
Law Clerk, J.D., West Virginia University College of Law 1982, in the preparation of
this article.
1. DANIEL R. PINELLO, THE IMPACT OF JUDICIAL-SELECTION METHOD ON STATE-
SUPREME-COURT POLICY: INNOVATION, REACTION, AND ATROPHY 135, 140 n.31
(Greenwood Press, 1995).
2. Philip L. Dubois, Accountability, Independence and the Selection of State
Judges: the Role of Popular Judicial Elections, 40 Sw. L.J. 31, 33 (1986).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/qlr20&div=35&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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