Position: Judicial Selection

Support the appointment/retention method and/or nonpartisan election of the judiciary.

Position In Brief: 

JUDICIAL - 1960, 1965, 1983, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2009 The League of Women Voters of Texas supports an effective, independent, qualified, and inclusive judiciary for Texas, which includes:

• a uniform fiscal policy as part of a single system of centrally administered statewide courts
• a single system of centrally administered statewide courts with a uniform fiscal policy
• assignment of judges according to special training and docket needs.

The League supports the selection of judges in the following manner:

• nomination by a diverse, representative, nonpartisan commission, with appointment for a specific term or appointment by the governor for a specific term
• judges are subject to retention or rejection in an unlimited number of periodic nonpartisan elections
• this should apply to Texas Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and Courts of Appeals
• selection of state district court judges may be by non-partisan election or by appointment/retention 
• judicial campaigns should be funded with public money.