Judicial Races Now Rife With Politics

Such tactics and the candidates' dependence on fundraising are what motivate those who would change the system, such as Lynn Marks, executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. She would scrap the partisan elections for a form of merit selection, where the governor chooses from candidates nominated by an independent commission. (Maryland and Virginia have different versions of appointive systems, and Virginia judges never face voters.) Currently, Marks said, "If we wind up with qualified candidates, it is in spite of the process, not because of it."

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But Marks acknowledged that voters are reluctant to give up their role, and candidates such as McCaffery said they should not.

His campaign is based on his outsize personality and compelling life story. With a shiny shaved head and barrel chest, McCaffery is a former Marine and Philadelphia beat cop, who said he went to night school for 11 1/2 years to finish college and earn a law degree from Temple University.

As a lower court judge he opened a courtroom in the bowels of the old Veterans Stadium to deal with unruly Eagles football fans, and he parlayed the resulting publicity into a campaign slogan: "The judge who brought law and order to the NFL."

He made a steady rise through the state court system, along the way turning down what he said was a $2 million offer "to become the next Judge Judy."

As for the campaigning, McCaffery likes it -- and says he has no trouble "being a politician out here and a judge in the courtroom."

Michael DeBow, a professor of law at Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Alabama, was a somewhat lonely voice advocating judicial elections at the O'Connor event, saying they "do the best job of promoting public involvement." He contended that studies of job performance show "not much discernable difference" in judges from a state that holds elections and those where the positions are appointive.

Federal judges are appointed, McCaffery said, but their political backgrounds are hardly irrelevant to the president and members of Congress who play a role in their selections. And merit selection is "elitist," he said, and not open to candidates with his background.

McCaffery mentioned his wife, who is also his campaign manager, a Harvard and University of Pennsylvania law school grad who served as an assistant district attorney.

"She's appointable," McCaffery said. "I'm electable."