Should Voters Pick Judges?

Oct 24, 2024

When some voters consider their ballot for the Nov. 5 presidential election, they will see down-ballot judicial elections鈥攂ut only in a handful of states and localities. are elected in partisan or nonpartisan races, or, more often than not, simply appointed by state legislatures or governors.聽

Given the critical role that judges play in the criminal justice system, which disproportionately entraps and , activists are calling for the democratization of judicial selection.聽

Ericka Wiley has worked as a deputy public defender for more than 20 years in Los Angeles, representing clients in criminal cases with charges ranging from misdemeanors to capital crimes. She is currently running for L.A. County superior judge. She spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about judicial elections, ending mass incarceration, and the prosecutor-to-judge pipeline.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.