Do You Know Who Your Judges Are?

Colorado voters this fall will consider Amendment 40, which will bring up appellate judges for recall elections more often, and impose a ten year term limit on judges that will prevent many of them from running again in the next retention election.

Do voters cast intelligent votes on judges? Probably not.A Zogby International survey shows that most Americans have only a dim idea which judges sit on even the prestigious and exhaustively media covered U.S. Supreme Court.

Of those who responded:

[O]nly a quarter can name two Supreme Court Justices . . . . [11 percent] were able to name the Supreme Court Justice confirmed in January 2006, Samuel Alito.

Awareness of state appellate judges is almost certainly weaker.

Cross Posted at Wash Park Prophet.