By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
The Arizona Supreme Court has cleared the way for voters to decide whether they and most other judges in the state should be allowed to have de facto life terms.
In an order late Thursday, the justices rejected claims that Proposition 137 illegally seeks to amend two separate and unrelated provisions of the Arizona Constitution about judicial elections.
On one hand, if approved, it would eliminate the requirement for judges who are now selected by the governor to have to seek voter approval on a regular basis for new terms. Instead, it would spell out that only a sitting judge who ran into trouble, like a personal bankruptcy, a felony conviction or a sub-par evaluation from the Commission on Judicial Performance Review would have to face voters.
