Gavel Grab

Justice at Stake is happy to report that West Virginia’s state Senate has approved a pilot public-financing program for the 2012 state Supreme Court election. Once the bill is signed by Gov. Joe Manchin, West Virginia will be the fourth state nationally to enact public financing for high court elections, and the second in just four months.

In a just-issued press release, JAS Executive Director Bert Brandenburg hailed the vote, citing a public opinion poll released Monday by Justice at Stake and the Committee for Economic Development:

“Today’s vote is a major victory, and it adds to a rising national call for reform. The people of West Virginia strongly support this bill. They want judges out of the ‘dialing-for-dollars’ game.

“Public financing gives voters more choices, and it preserves impartial courts, because it allows qualified judicial candidates to run without having to solicit money. But candidates must have enough funding to run viable campaigns. This is especially true because of the Citizens United ruling, which will allow unprecedented levels of special-interest spending.

“The public overwhelmingly believes everyone should have a fair day in court, and they don’t trust that the system is fair when one team can hire the umpire. Under public financing, people decide who sits on the court, not special-interest money. That’s why it has broad, bipartisan public support.”

Public financing for Supreme Court elections has been established in North Carolina (since 2002), New Mexico (2007), and Wisconsin (2009). To see today’s release, click here. To learn about the recent poll, click here. And to learn more about West Virginia, see Justice at Stake’s West Virginia news page.