by Prince C. Chambliss, Jr.
Although the issue of whether Shelby County judges -- 39 on the 1998 ballot -- will continue to be elected on a non-partisan basis has consumed the legal and political communities for months, the probability is that, for the electorate, the issue of judicial elections must be confusing, at best.
Compounding the confusion perhaps was the recent vote by the General Assembly for a Shelby County-specific bill allowing two-thirds of our county commission to abort partisan judicial primaries.
Shelby County has, until very recently, elected its judges on a non-partisan basis. Those of us who support this method can give you any number of reasons why this system should continue.
On the other hand, Davidson County (Nashville) elects its judges by way of partisan primaries. To the average voter the thought must occur that if partisan election of judges is as bad as we say it is for Shelby County, then why on earth do they do it in Davidson County (whose legislative representatives lobbied so hard to keep Nashville unaffected by the recent anti-primary legislation)?
To get to the heart of the matter, we must recognize that Memphis and Nashville are two very different places.
The once-traditional Democratic Party's hold on the South remains a way of life in Davidson County, where winning the Democratic primary is still tantamount to victory in the general election. In Shelby County, recent electoral history demonstrates that partisan political power divides fairly evenly along racial lines.
While the black voter population in Davidson County is less than 30 percent, in Shelby County it is rapidly approaching 50 percent. Partisan elections in Shelby County polarize the community racially. Generally, blacks vote for Democrats, and whites for Republicans. Extending such divisiveness to the judiciary can only have a negative impact on the quality of our judicial system.
Some Republicans have indicated that there are black potential judicial candidates who will participate in the Republican primary, reducing the expected partisan racial battle. In all candor, it must be said that such candidates, if any there be, can expect little support for the foreseeable future, either black or white.
More importantly, putting a party label on a judicial candidate (whether black or white) adds nothing to understanding the particular candidate's qualifications for judicial office. Simply put, there is no Republican or Democratic way of judging, nor does the state Code of Judicial Conduct allow specifically political discussion of issues by judges.
There is nothing inherently wrong in the desire of political parties to expand their influence and control by seeking to increase elective officeholders among their members, provided that such partisan activity is confined to the legislative and executive branches of government.
Candidates for such offices actively solicit the views of their constituents on the issues, and we expect those office seekers to take a position.
Judges are a completely different matter. The thread of our independent judiciary holds together the very fabric of our great democratic system of government. Any effort towards partisan influence in judicial elections is, at best, a misconception of the judicial role. At worst, such attempts subvert the basic assigned judicial function: the rational adjudication of disputes according to the law.
All state judges in Tennessee are required to affirm an oath to uphold both the state and federal constitutions and to enforce the law, and to administer justice without respect of persons and without fear or favor. Good conscientious judges rule every day on issues without regard to their personal opinion on the subject.
We cannot expect those who are pressing for partisanship to understand and appreciate what is happening to the judiciary in Shelby County. Succumbing to partisan elections for judges in Shelby County surrenders the most important decisions in our community to whatever political party happens to be riding high at the time.
In 1998 it may be the Republicans. Eight years after that -- when all of the Shelby County judicial offices will again be scheduled for general election -- the ever changing demographics suggest that it could very well be the Democrats. In either case, the scales of justice would have been tilted by the fact of partisanship.
We deserve -- and must demand -- better than that. (Prince C. Chambliss Jr. is president of the Memphis Bar Association, the first African American to hold that title.)