Why do we vote for judges? You would think that they should be non-political and selected based on Merit. I recently had to vote on a whole bunch of judges that I really knew nothing about, so I defaulted to party lines. I would like to think that they will distribute justice fairly and evenly without prejudice or bias, but I don't really know.
I'm under the impression that this is not how most countries handle this. In most European countries a council of experts reviews applicants and make recommendations to the appointing official. Can politics play a role? Clearly it could but not as clearly as in this country.
Judges clearly need to know the law and the precedents as well as the rules of evidence. Because of out precedent system, we have rules that often favor the defense. Take the fruit of the poisoned tree theory. This holds that if the police screw up part of an investigation, say illegal search or failure to obtain a proper warrant, the evidence obtained can not be used.
This came about when the Supreme Court decided that no other remedy would serve to correct police misconduct. Well what about the dangerous evidence that is no longer admissible? There are two main parties involved, the accused and the public. Police do represent the public but the public has very little to do with their behavior. When evidence gets thrown out due to a technicality, the public is put at risk.
The legal system is there to serve the public. It serves it best by uncovering the truth. When the truth is suppressed it is not doing its job.
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