A bill would let the governor appoint top judges.
Rep. Johnathan Rhyne, a Lincoln County Republican and family law attorney, said he filed the bill to improve the appellate court system.
"It's a recognition that 99 percent of the voting public has no idea who they're voting for," he said.
Under the proposal, a Judicial Nomination Commission would vet potential judges for the N.C. Court of Appeals and the N.C. Supreme Court. They would then forward a list of recommendations to the governor, who would make the appointments.
In many ways, the system would be similar to the one used now for unexpected vacancies, Rhyne said. A difference is that the judges would later face a retention election — essentially an up-or-down vote by the people after they'd been in office for a while.
If they lost, the governor would appoint another judge.
Rhyne, who served on a commission that looked into the judicial system in the early 1990s, said that the goal is to get better judges.
"Electing judges when the public does not know who they're voting for is like walking down a highway in the dark," he said. "It's dangerous, and you don't need to do that."
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