Will a Judge Be On Your Ballot in November?

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, September 24, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. In this day and age, judges may be the most powerful officials in the United States. That’s not a constitutional fact or the way it’s supposed to be, but it’s a modern phenomenon. Article III of the Constitution created the U.S. Supreme Court and authorized Congress to create lower federal courts. So, Congress created 13 federal courts of appeal, 94 federal district courts, three other federal courts to handle specific issues and magistrate judges for certain district court matters.

All federal judges are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Federal judges never run for office and once they’re confirmed, they have a job for life … unless they are impeached for bad behavior and thrown out of office.

But state judges are different. They are elected. The Georgia constitution established at least seven categories of state judges and none of them run as members of political parties. They are nonpartisan candidates and they don’t run in primary elections. Occasionally, a state judge is appointed, but only to fill an unexpected vacancy that occurs before a term expires. However, those appointees must run in the next election, if they want to keep that job.

Candidates for the four Georgia Courts of Appeal seats will be on all November ballots, but only one of those races is contested. That’s Judge Johnson’s seat. He’s retiring at the end of December and six candidates are campaigning for his job.

Of the 63 superior court judges that will be on the ballot in November, 53 have no opposition. No one else qualified. So, those 53 cannot lose. But, if you are in one of the ten circuits with a contested race for judge, it’s important that you research the candidates and vote for the one that best reflects your values. If you don’t know which superior court circuit serves your area, go online at www.findlaw.com or call your local library. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.