ISBA stands against HB 1453
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
The Indiana State Bar Association stands with the Lake and St. Joseph County bar associations in support of their efforts to defeat Indiana House Bill 1453. The proposed legislation would reconfigure the judicial nominating process specific to these two counties.
The ISBA has a history of recognizing that local bars are best suited to determine the process for selecting their trial court judges. For more than 40 years, Lake and St. Joseph Counties have had a merit selection system which allows for citizens, lawyers, and appellate level judges to screen and select the candidates for appointment by the governor.
After discussions with leaders of the Lake and St. Joseph County bar associations, ISBA determined it would stand against HB 1453 for the following reasons:
- HB 1453 would unnecessarily change a working system. The current system works and has continued to produce qualified, diverse judicial candidates.
- HB 1453 threatens judicial independence. This bill unnecessarily politicizes the vetting process for judicial candidates and shifts that responsibility to the executive branch. The current system allows for vital input to be shared from experienced, local practitioners and a Supreme Court/Court of Appeals judge to ensure the qualifications of a judicial candidate are properly vetted. In contrast, the current bill would allow the governor to select the majority of nominating commission members (three of the five) with no requirement that the appointees have any legal training or connection to the legal community. Likewise, there is no guarantee that local attorneys would even be part of the judicial selection process.
In summary, HB 1453 unnecessarily discards a working system and replaces it with one primarily overseen by the executive branch, without counsel from those who interact with the court on a daily basis.
The bill has passed in the House of Representatives, and ISBA calls for the Senate to vote down the bill.
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