Judging Judges: Securing Judicial Independence by Use of Judicial Performance Evaluations

This Article discusses judicial performance evaluations as a check on judicial independence. It covers numerous performance evaluation options for measuring accountability, such as bar and media polls, state judicial evaluation programs, and the ABA Guidelines for judicial performance. It discusses the pros and cons of these options. It concludes that the information provided by state judicial performance evaluations offers valuable insight into judicial criticisms and can give voters appropriate criteria to consider in judicial elections.