WHAT MAKES A GOOD APPOINTIVE SYSTEM FOR THE SELECTION OF STATE COURT JUDGES: THE VISION OF THE SYMPOSIUM

This Article contains two parts. First, it sets forth the context of the symposium, including reflections on how judges are being selected now through the elective process, the need for a better approach to judicial selection, and the particular climate in New York at the time of the symposium and thereafter. The New York discussion will focus on the district court and Second Circuit decisions in Lopez Torres v. New York State Board of Elections, which exposed and struck down as unconstitutional New York’s scheme for selecting certain trial court judges, under which political party leaders dictated judicial selection. Second, it reviews the principal topics and themes of the symposium, including highlights of the presentations and articles of the participants on how a well constructed judicial appointment system should be designed.