Judicial Selection to State Courts of Last Resort (State Supreme Courts)

This is the first of a series of posts that will accompany an article of mine that will be published in the West Virginia Law Review on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Public Financing Pilot Program entitled “A Horse of a Different Color: Distinguishing the Judiciary from the Political Branches in Campaign Financing." This chart shows how states have selected judges to state courts of last resort since the founding of the US. Time is along the x axis and the number of jurisdictions is along the y axis. This chart breaks down appointment selection systems into lifetime and appointment for term. This video map should be used in connection with the charts above to get a spatial understanding of the history of judicial selection methods. It shows how judges have been selected to state courts of last resort (supreme courts) since 1776. Red = Partisan Elections. Pink = Non-Partisan Elections. Green = Appointment for Term. Yellow = Lifetime Appointment. Blue = Merit Selection.