Three members of the Iowa Supreme Court lost re-election races on Tuesday.  Due to the hostility of modern politics (on both sides of the aisle), the significant increase in spending in judicial races, and the need for an independent judiciary that is not subject to political pressure or bias (or the appearance of bias) due to campaign contributions, I have been, for some time, in favor of  appointed state judiciaries.  In 2005, I wrote an article entitled A Call for Change: Improving Judicial Selection Methods.  The American Judicature Society also has an excellent website devoted to state judicial selection methods and relevant research that evaluates potential selection methods.

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