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in the courtroom every day hearing the
pleas of lawyers. He may be displeasing
one of them when he makes a decision, but
he knows that they are going to have a
little poll at the end of the week that it is
going to be secret, and they are going to
have an opportunity to vote whether they
should recommend his continuance in office
or not.
This amendment does not avoid that hap-
pening. The bar can have its poll. It has in
the past enlisted the support of lawyers
for judges who are on the bench. I think
you have all seen the ad published in the
papers just before the elections which list
lawyers who support a particular judge.
Any lawyers who oppose him can do the
same thing if they wish. They can conduct
a secret poll at the bar association if they
want to. I do not see why this has to be in
the Constitution.
I think it does have these ills that I
point out, and I urge you to adopt the
amendment.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any ques-
tions of the sponsor of the amendment?
There are none.
Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: Mr. President,
Delegate Bamberger is entirely correct
that we have been up and down the hill
in this portion of section 5.22, and the
matter was debated at some length by the
Committee of the Whole, and perhaps this
part of section 5.22 has been debated in the
corridors and privately more than any
other section of the judicial article.
Obviously there are objections and per-
suasive suggestions or provisions for this
poll, and it may be said that it is not of
constitutional stature. It may be you will
recall that the matter was included in the
draft referred to our Committee as a per-
missive procedure.
We debated that aspect of the matter at
some length in the Committee, and con-
cluded that a permissive poll which might
be taken in some instances and not in
others could be more difficult and more
harmful than no poll, or the situation that
we are now trying to take care of by
making it mandatory.
I say again, as I think I said when this
matter was debated before, that I feel that
the lawyers as members of the bar and
officers of the court have some obligation
with respect to the ability and acceptability
of a sitting judge.
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Obviously some lawyers will dislike ex-
pressing their views even by a secret ballot,
and obviously some judges will dislike the
idea of this poll. However, it was a view
of the majority of our Committee that the
poll, if it was to be provided for, should
be mandatory in all instances. Under the
running against the record procedure which
we have adopted for the selection and
retention of judges those who were in-
terested were entitled to know the lawyers'
evaluation of a candidate for judge. If
that is true then certainly lawyers as
officers of the court have an obligation to
carry through.
I, therefore, oppose this amendment and
urge the delegates to vote against it.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Wheatley.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: Mr. Presi-
dent, and ladies and gentlemen of the Con-
vention, I went up the hill with Delegate
Mudd, and now I would like to come down
the hill with Delegate Bamberger, and
the way the load has been going lately I
would suggest that Delegate Bamberger
will be over the hill. I did vote for it when
it was first written. Then on more mature
reflection I concluded that it should come
out for basically two reasons. Even though
I am opposed to the system as proposed
by this article, if it is adopted, judges
should not be subjected to pressures from
attorneys any more than politicians. For
the reason I first stated I would be in
favor of the amendment.
More important, the poll creates a special
class of voters. It establishes attorneys as
those who vote twice, and we would have
mini-elections. I do not think we should
provide for this kind of thing in the con-
stitution. Therefore I urge that this amend-
ment be passed to get back to the concept
of brevity that we espouse so often. If the
attorneys of this State want to take a poll,
I am sure they have the integrity to con-
duct such a poll. If they do not, I cannot
see us mandating such a poll.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Rosenstock.
DELEGATE ROSENSTOCK: Mr. Presi-
dent and fellow delegates, this is the heart
of the judicial selection. I have talked about
this section with a great many lawyers,
non-lawyers, and judges. The only opposi-
tion is among certain judges, and that
makes me feel all the more that we are
right in asking that we have this poll of
lawyers to express whether a judge should
be retained, or not retained in office.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Jett.
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