Why do we elect our judges who are meant to be impartial arbiters of the law? It does nothing other than politicize the one place that should be shielded from politics: the court.

Maybe it is democratic to elect our judges, because people get to directly decide who rules from the bench.  But we can’t ignore that it allows for a new level corruption and judicial instability.

“Politicians are expected to be appropriately responsive to the preferences of their supporters. A judge instead must ‘observe the utmost fairness,’ striving to be ‘perfectly and completely independent,’” U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in 2015.

Judges aren’t politicians — at least they shouldn’t be. Judges who are elected like politicians will likely act like them.

I understand the argument for electing judges. If someone were to unfortunately end up on the wrong side of the law in front of a judge, they may want a judge who promised to be lenient or strong on a particular issue. The same goes for attorneys and others on the right side of the law.

This is wrong. Yes, we elect our representatives in all levels of local, state and federal governments. Most of us would like to think we would want them to vote and govern based off of the collective good of our country. But in reality, we want to vote and govern based off of our own political ideologies.

Of course, there are problems with this. Luckily, James Madison  anticipated these problems when framing our government. Madison’s embrace and enhancement of the checks and balances idea was meant to counteract all of the negative aspects of electing government officials.

Judges aren’t meant to push political agendas, rule from partisan ideology or be scared or influenced into ruling a certain way because of the chance they may lose their next election. Judges are meant to be the true backbone of everything that makes this country what is. The ideas, of liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness can only be attained there is justice and fairness in everything we do. Judges are supposed to ensure this.

In Louisiana, this is especially important. We have the highest incarceration rate in the nation. A judge running for re-election may be more likely to hand down a harsher sentence to appear “tough on crime.” This is detrimental to our people, state and nation.

“Proximity to re-election makes judges more punitive — more likely to impose longer sentences, affirm death sentences and even override life sentences to impose death,” according to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law in 2015.

This is why United States Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president and serve for life. This way, they don’t have to fear losing their position because of an unpopular position. If its constitutionally sound, then it was the right thing to do.

Judges in 39 states go through elections. Instead of this, they should be nominated by the governor and approved by the state’s legislature or appointed by an independent, bipartisan commission. Either way would be better than what we have now.

The politicization of our courts must end.
Frederick Bell is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Greensburg, Louisiana.