While making a case for a system of confirmation and retention elections for North Carolina judges, Duke law professor Paul Carrington offers News & Observer readers the following assessment:
Alas, our good system is now dead. The Supreme Court of the United States held in 2010 that “matching funds” violate the right to free expression of those spending vast sums to speak in support of their favored candidates. Thus, we have no choice but to change our ways.
That “good” system, of course, was one which forced taxpayers to support the election campaigns of judicial candidates with whom they might disagree. As Daren Bakst would say, good riddance.
