States as Laboratories of Experimentation: The Nature of Selection Systems in State Courts.

States as Laboratories of Experimentation: The Nature of Selection Systems in State CourtsAbstractIn this paper, we revisit our research (Hurwitz and Lanier 2001, 2003, 2005) which focused on judicial selection systems and levels of diversity in state and federal appellate courts over two cross-sections of time, 1985 and 1999. Here, we focus on the year 2005 by examining how selection systems have changed since our prior studies. While we had observed an increasing number of state courts employing the merit system of selection from 1985 to 1999, there was a trivial increase of such courts from 1999 to 2005, with use of other systems remaining stable. That is, the changing use of selection systems that was the prior rule was no longer the case, as a good deal of continuity defined the types of selection systems now utilized in the states. However, when we analyze levels of diversity in both state and federal courts, we observe an increasing number and percentage of judges who are political minorities. In this regard, change is the order of the day with respect to women and minorities on appellate benches in the United States. Finally, our descriptive analyses demonstrate that particular methods of judicial selection do not influence the rate at which political minorities attain the bench. In particular, the merit system of selection, once derided by some as disfavoring nontraditional judges by preferring a prior status quo, continues to have no systematic influence on diversity, thus confirming our earlier findings. While there are a myriad of rationales for state policy makers to choose one particular selection method over any other, our research substantiates that consideration of associated levels of diversity need not be included in this decisional calculus. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]