Merit Selection Amendment Introduced
Yesterday, State Representative Mark Gottlieb (R-Port Washington) announced that he is drafting a constitutional amendment to replace Wisconsin’s current method of judicial elections with “merit selection.” Rep. Gottlieb is a former speaker pro tem of the Assembly, and he is widely regarded as one of the top policy gurus within the Republican caucus.
Currently, the legislature is seriously considering public financing
of judicial elections (a topic on which Prof. Esenberg has written
extensively). Rep. Gottlieb is offering his amendment as an alternative to public financing as it comes to the floor in the near future. Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) offered his own judicial selection amendment earlier this session. Both Gottlieb and Kessler differ from the typical “Missouri Plan” merit selection system. Under Kessler’s plan, the governor would appoint a justice with the “advice and consent” of a majority of the State Senate for a ten-year term. As that term is coming up for expiration, a justice who wishes to continue may do so unless at least thirteen senators reject the proposed renewal. Under Gottlieb’s plan, the governor must select his nominee from current circuit court and appellate judges who have served at least eight years on the bench. The nominee would then need to be confirmed to the ten-year term by a twenty-vote (3/5) majority in the state senate. At the end of the ten-year term, and each subsequent ten-year term he or she desires, the justice would have to run in a retention election. Neither the Kessler nor the Gottlieb plan would change judicial selection for the court of appeals or circuit courts.
Let’s start by stating what’s good about both of these proposals.