Opinion analysis and election recommendations from the Dallas Morning News editorial board.
Since 1950, the Dallas Bar Association has conducted its Judicial Evaluation Poll, an anonymous survey of its members about the performance of the local civil and criminal court judges.
The poll has sometimes been criticized as a popularity contest. Still, the collective opinion of courtroom lawyers about the work ethic, temperament and other important characteristics of our county, state, federal and appellate judges is among the few measures of judicial performance we have.This publicly available scorecard has been widely valued and anticipated by those within the justice system, as well as this newspaper, and we think has helped improve our judiciary.
That’s why we like the bar’s poll. Each judge is named and scored on whether he or she is prepared for court, issues opinions and orders without unnecessary delay, is impartial, demonstrates adequate knowledge of the law, and has a proper judicial demeanor. About 10% of the bar’s 11,000 members rate judges as excellent, acceptable or needing improvement. Sometimes respondents say they have no opinion.
Bar spokeswoman Jessica Smith said that its board of directors this year “decided it was time to review the poll prior to it being sent out and that process is happening now.” But she would not say why it was under review, or if it would be conducted at all this year.Other than the state commission, only the appeals courts serve as a measure of judicial performance by grading the papers, so to speak, of the lower court judges by determining whether their rulings have been legally proper.
But now more than ever, we need deeper scrutiny of those entrusted with such enormous power over our everyday lives. The bar’s poll, though not perfect, has served that function. We hope to see it again soon.. Dallas Morning News editorials are written by the paper's Editorial Board and serve as the voice and view of the paper. The board considers a broad range of topics and is overseen by the Editorial Page Editor.
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