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If you want to be a judge, should you have to know enough about the law to pass that little thing called the bar exam and be an actual lawyer? You wouldn’t if a group of Republican legislators get their way.
A bill filed Wednesday would allow court clerks, sheriffs or magistrates with at least 10 years experience, and any law enforcement officer with at least 25 years experience, to be a district court judge.
There will be an attempt to make judicial elections partisan again. A pair of Republican senators filed such a bill on Thursday.
SB39 would require state all Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, superior and district court judges to run by party affiliation. That used to be the case until 2002, when the Democratic-controlled General Assembly made them nonpartisan, the rationale being that judges should be elected based solely on qualifications and not politics.
Republicans contended that the real motivation was that voters were electing Republican judges.
Sen. Jerry Tillman of Archdale, a retired school administrator, and Sen. Thom Goolsby of Wilmington, a lawyer, are the co-sponsors.
