Perhaps we should forgo elections...

It's a little scary when the largest donors to judicial races are coal and mining interests or corporate lobbying groups assembled to generate tort reform...

This just in:

In the wake of last years costliest and possibly nastiest elections ever for state Supreme Court justices, a few states are drawing up changes to curb threats to the impartiality and fairness of their legal systems.

At the state level, it isn't grueling Senate confirmation hearings at the center of judicial battles, as is the prospect in store for U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. It's soaring campaign spending and bare-knuckled special interest politics.

At least one state -- West Virginia -- is considering scrapping judicial elections altogether after state voters were bombarded by more than 4,000 TV attack ads in 2004 during the most expensive high court race in state history.

West Virginia is one of 22 states that elect their high court justices in head-to-head races. "