<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.5726" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV class="note_title_share clearfix">
<DIV class=note_title>Hi</DIV>
<DIV class=note_title> </DIV>
<DIV class=note_title>Obviously a PR exercise, but worth sending. Off
Palin's page on Facebook.</DIV>
<DIV class=note_title> </DIV>
<DIV class=note_title>Stephen</DIV>
<DIV class=note_title> </DIV>
<DIV class=note_title><A
href="http://www.new.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=55469398434&id=24718773587&index=0">Statement
from SarahPAC on Governor Palin's selection of Judge Christen</A></DIV>
<DIV class="share_and_hide clearfix">Today at 01:06</DIV>
<DIV class="share_and_hide clearfix"> </DIV>
<DIV class="share_and_hide clearfix">Gov. Palin is totally pro-life. Always has
been. Always will be. She believes in a culture of life from cradle to grave.
Her choice for Supreme Court judge was made in accordance with Alaska law. She
chose the person most qualified from the names sent to her. The Governor's
choice has a record of fairness. That is important as the courts sort out some
very thorny issues. Governor Palin's choices were either a liberal or an
independent. She went with the independent. And as the following article
reflects - this selection process is flawed. <BR><BR><I>Process of selecting
Alaska's judges is clearly flawed</I><BR>By Bob Flint <BR><A
title=http://www.catholicanchor.org/oped.html
href="http://www.new.facebook.com/note_redirect.php?note_id=55469398434&h=54ddbb625140a435401a8464ed4099ca&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicanchor.org%2Foped.html"
target=_blank>Catholic Anchor Online </A><BR><BR>Alaska courts have a long
history of removing contentious social and cultural issues from the democratic
process. Court rulings have forced private hospitals to perform abortions,
ordered gay marriage and benefits, required taxpayer funded abortions and
interfered with parents' rights to be involved in the abortion decisions of
their minor child. <BR><BR>These court rulings involve the creation of new and
novel legal doctrines untethered to our Constitutional history, intent, or even
language. The decisions of the public and their elected representatives are
ignored, not to mention the rights of individuals to parent their children or
perform services or charity without being forced into immoral and abhorrent
practices. <BR><BR>The Alaska courts have consistently struck at such basic
moral rights as life, family, marriage and conscience, undermining in the
process the essential pillars on which society is based. The church does not
govern the secular world, which has its own legitimate autonomy, but autonomy
does not mean exemption from fundamental moral law. It is the duty of all
Catholics to take part in the secular world with such moral principles as their
base. This includes the courts, how judges are chosen, how they decide and what
they decide. <BR><BR>Unlike other public officials, the judiciary operates
largely outside the public scrutiny, including the judicial selection process.
Policy makers who are elected officials are chosen in a public process and are
subject to strict sunshine rules when policy is being made. Unelected policy
makers — judges — are selected in secret and are subject to no effective public
control or accountability. Therein lies the flaw in the selection process.
<BR><BR>Our selection method consists of a nominating committee, called the
Alaska Judicial Council, made up of the Chief Justice, three lawyers chosen by
the bar association and three lay members appointed by the governor. Thus, the
lawyers are in the majority. The Judicial Council nominates candidates for
appointment by the governor who must select from these nominees. <BR><BR>In
theory, though not in practice, the Judicial Council ignores political or
ideological considerations when nominating, leaving those to the elected
official, the governor. The State Constitution's laudable goal was to eliminate
the political influence of elections and the cronyism of direct appointment.
<BR><BR>Regrettably, experience has shown that special interest influence cannot
be held at bay, which now turns out to be the biggest legal special interest of
all, the Alaska Bar Association. <BR><BR>The Alaska Judicial Council deliberates
and nominates in secrecy. It issues no reasons for its choices or rejections.
Other than vague reference to "most qualified," (a term contained not in the
Constitution but in the Judicial Council's own bylaws) or "best available
timber," a wish by a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, no discernable
standards for choosing nominees exist. Obviously qualified candidates are
routinely not nominated. This year, one of only two nominees to the current
Supreme Court vacancy was not nominated for the same position last year, thus
appearing to have moved from unqualified to qualified in a very short time
without any observable change in his actual qualifications. <BR><BR>The judicial
selection process is clearly flawed and in need of substantial reform. It was
undoubtedly an error to entrust the choice of such important public offices to
the bar association. <BR><BR>If the legal profession and the judges who come
from it would respect their role in the democratic system, the current system
would work, but that has proved impossible. The temptation of power is simply
too great. <BR><BR>Short of a Constitutional amendment, the public and the
governor can demand transparency in the entire nominating process, the creation
of standards by which nominations are made, the elimination of ideological
considerations and the nomination of the maximum number of candidates, not the
minimum. <BR><BR>The selection process and its results cannot be ignored. No
progress can be made if time after time the unelected juristocracy intrudes on
the workings of democracy with edicts shaping the world to their own ideological
and moral vision. <BR><BR><I>The writer is a member of the Alaska Bar
Association and an attorney in Anchorage.
</I></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>