Pointe Coupee Democrat. [volume] (False River [i.e. New Roads], Parish of Pointe Coupee [La.]) 1858-1862, 1858-10-30
JUDICIAL ELECTIONS.

u dItIS Oh lilAlC A. [-IC S''oH "a
Cd for all other elections. This provi-
vision CART. 81 was Inserted for the
purpose Of keeping the election Of
Judges aloof from. and entirely u~ninflu-
enced by, the political contests of the
day; but its efcc. has been very differ,
ent FROM what was contemplated by the
trainers Of the constitution. Instead OF
keeping the election Of Judges indie
pendent of and out Of the arena Of poll
tee, every Judge who has been elected
II TIE Supreme Bench, and some OF the
District Judges also, owe their election
entirely to the nomination and support
which they received from the party to
which they belonged. Political consld-
erations alone enabled them to succeed.
Up to the present time, the Democratic
party has ~resolutely stood aloof and re-
fused to make nominations, and were
determined to carry out in good faith
the object Of the trainers Of the consti-
tuition, aud to give the system a fair
trial. Our opponents, taking advantage
of this, have been enabled, by their strict
party organization and the indifference
manifested by the people in regard to
the matter, to bring to the polls a sufi-
cient number of their adberents to Sc
cure, in every instance, the success of
their candidates. They are continually
crying out against nominating candl-
dates for judgships, and mixing up pol
itics with our Judicial elections, while
they themselves adopt that plan in Sc
cret. and are all the while laughing IN
their sleeves at our credulity. This fact
and the evils arising therefromshave be-
come so notorious, that there is little
doubt but that the Democratic party will
hereafter, in every instance, nominate
their candidates for Supreme and Dis
trict Judges. But this will go but a We
ny short way towards correcting the evil,
and giving the elective system a fair
trial. In order to do this, the time for
holding elections for Judges must be
fixed on the same day rs other elections,
and the Supreme Judges nominated our
State Conventions. The object for
which Art. 80 was inserted in the con-
stitution has entirely failed; on the con.
trary, it is attended with evils that were
not dreamed Of by its originators, and
which, we believe, would be wholly Oh.
waited by its repeal. Our experience
| proves conciusively. that whatever III
terest the people may have in the cleo
ton of the judiciary, it is not sufficient
to induce them to go to the polls to vote
that it is only at the general elections
that we can expect to obtain a full ex.
preston Of the wishes Of the people
And this is not surprising: comparative
" few have any immediate interest in
the election of Judges, Or anything tt
do with courts, judges or lawyers, Oh
think they ever will have. But q very
small portion Of the voters of the State
arc acquainted with their respective can
didates for the Supreme Bench, or know
anything of their qualifications or fit
ness for the position to which they as
pire. Were they to come before then
with the endorsement and appreciation
of a convention composed of the most
prominent and intelligent citizens Of the
State, as is the case with other officers
for whom they are called upon to vote
the case would be very different; they
would have an assurance that the can
didates who were presented to then
were competent and fitted, in every re
spect, to discharge faithfully and eff
emily the high duties they would be
called upon to perform. Every body
we believe, is dissatisfied with the work
ing of the present system; but before
taking the retrograde step of abandoning
the elective system, and be the frs
State in the Union to return to the ole
system Of having Judges again ap
pointed by the Governor and Senate
let us, at all events, give the prcsen'
plan q fair trial; let us quit this middl.