[Goose]

I know half a dozen judges reasonably well.  Almost all of them are terrific, very high quality people, generally thought to be excellent judges.

I only know one judge to have a poor reputation.  A superior court judge, rated 24th of 31 superior court judges in that county.  I know her very, very well and wouldn't trust her to judge a third grade spelling contest.  Personality-wise, very unfit to be a judge.

I could have - and perhaps should have - said "vast majority" (which is still a "majority").  But perhaps the awful ones stick out more than the good ones, and I can think of a couple off the top of my head on the federal bench.

I have no knowledge of this issue myself. From what I hear from some people who I think do know is that Judges in the Superior Court are often not very good. Some of them don't know the law. Some of them are lazy. Some are downright biased. This kind of makes sense, as the election process doesn't have a real good feedback mechanism to get rid of such persons. These positions are also not real prestigious so you often get people who weren't very good lawyers and need a steady job. The federal bench is much better. You seldom get a dolt. You may get somebody you don't like much, but generally they are competent. All that said, corruption seems not to be much of an issue at any level, thank goodness. Lets just hope it stays that way.

[Goose]

I know half a dozen judges reasonably well.  Almost all of them are terrific, very high quality people, generally thought to be excellent judges.

I only know one judge to have a poor reputation.  A superior court judge, rated 24th of 31 superior court judges in that county.  I know her very, very well and wouldn't trust her to judge a third grade spelling contest.  Personality-wise, very unfit to be a judge.

I could have - and perhaps should have - said "vast majority" (which is still a "majority").  But perhaps the awful ones stick out more than the good ones, and I can think of a couple off the top of my head on the federal bench.

I have no knowledge of this issue myself. From what I hear from some people who I think do know is that Judges in the Superior Court are often not very good. Some of them don't know the law. Some of them are lazy. Some are downright biased. This kind of makes sense, as the election process doesn't have a real good feedback mechanism to get rid of such persons. These positions are also not real prestigious so you often get people who weren't very good lawyers and need a steady job. The federal bench is much better. You seldom get a dolt. You may get somebody you don't like much, but generally they are competent. All that said, corruption seems not to be much of an issue at any level, thank goodness. Lets just hope it stays that way.