Reforming selection of judges

The Miami Herald: The latest travails of Miami-Dade County Court Judge Ana Maria Pando should kick-start a statewide conversation about elected vs. appointed judges. That likely won’t happen. But it should.

Studies have shown that appointed judges are far less likely to engage in or face allegations of corruption or ethical violations, boding well for judicial integrity.

Recently, Pando, one of two jurists presiding at the Hialeah branch courthouse, was charged by state judicial watchdogs with “lending the prestige of judicial office” to a friend. The friend happens to own several medical clinics that had appeared regularly before her in court.

Pando’s case, of course, will work its way through the system. But whatever its resolution, that shouldn’t be a dead end for a serious look at how judges are elected to the state’s lower courts and county courts.