The Solution

Use Performance Evaluation and Retention Elections
Minnesotans risk enduring the expensive partisan elections and airways filled with negative advertising that occur in other states with less respected judiciaries. We can prevent this from happening in our state—now is the time to preserve the impartiality and dignity Minnesotans expect from their judges.

In Minnesota, a citizens’ commission led by former Governor Al Quie, recommended a fair and impartial solution for our state. The Minnesota Citizens Commission for the Preservation of an Impartial Judiciary , a 30-member panel that included judges, both trial and defense lawyers, business, labor, and other citizens studied this issue for more than a year.

The Commission recommended that the Minnesota Constitution be amended to establish:

1. A merit-based nomination of qualified candidates for all judicial vacancies;

2. Gubernatorial appointment of all judges

3. Performance evaluations of all judges—open and transparent—conducted by a commission, a majority of whom are non-lawyers; and

4. Retention elections where voters, using information from the public performance evaluation, decide to keep or remove judges from office. In 2008, the Minnesota Legislature is expected to consider this proposal which promotes an impartial and fair judiciary for our state.

Elections focused on judicial performance, not attack ads
A renewed emphasis on the quality and performance of judges, rather than political issues, will better inform citizens prior to judicial elections:

• Using merit-based nomination for all Minnesota judges will help select a qualified and respected group of judicial nominees for appointment by the Governor (even now, under direct elections, over 90 percent of all judges are initially appointed by the Governor).
• All incumbent judges will be reviewed by an independent panel, which will rate judges’ performance on following the law, courtroom communication, respect for litigants, and overall integrity and make that information public.