Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor's New Judgment: Judicial Campaign Reform Is Necessary

Ryan J. Reilly | August 17, 2010, 2:43PM

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the keynote speaker at the National District Attorneys Association summer conference at Silverado Resort on July 12, 2010.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has taken up the cause of reforming state judicial campaign and election systems, writing that the "crisis of confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary is real and growing." If left unaddressed, said O'Connor, "the perception that justice is for sale will undermine the rule of law that courts are supposed to uphold."

O'Connor's comments came in her introduction of a new report which concludes that partisan and special interest groups have grown far more organized in their efforts to use judicial elections to tilt the scales of justice. Campaign fundraising for judicial elections more than doubled from $83.3 million in 1990-1999 to $206.9 million in 2000-2009, according to the report.

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