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Tennessee's method for selecting the highest-ranking judges in the state will end on April 15.

That worries a former state Supreme Court justice and a scholar in constitutional law who spoke at a meeting Monday sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Blount County at Maryville College.

The League held the meeting to discuss the best methods for selecting state and local judges.

Former Supreme Court Justice Penny White said she believes the best method that Tennessee has had so far is in danger of dying out.

The change could occur in three weeks when the process picking intermediate court of appeals judges and Supreme Court judges in Tennessee is sunset.

Currently the state uses the "merit selection system" of electing judges at those levels, White said. Those interested in being an appeals or Supreme Court judge must apply, and finalists are selected by a bipartisan committee. The governor then selects an applicant from the finalists. There is some public approval that takes place because citizens have the opportunity to vote "yes" or "no" by ballot, White said.

Tennessee is also one of 14 states in the country that conducts judicial performance evaluations on the judges, she said, which is published in five newspapers in the state. This allows voters to gather more information before voting "yes" or "no."

White said the merit selection system and evaluation system will be "sunsetted this year." The end of term for both systems is April 15, and White said it is unclear what system will be in place next.

"What we will have is up in controversy," White said.

White said that her prediction, which was influenced from judiciary officials in Nashville, is that the two bills will get passed in the state House, but it will it will be "two votes shy" of being passed at the state Senate level.

Dr. Otis Stephens, professor of political science and resident scholar of constitutional law at University of Tennessee, also spoke on methods of judge selection at the meeting. He said the merit selection system effects 29 judges in the state and said Tennessee may be "moving backward if the merit system disappears."

White said judicial vacancies will remain until a new selection method is voted in, causing a greater delay in cases.

Both Stephens and White said there doesn't seem to be proposed legislation to change the method and that nobody seems to be doing anything to make sure legislators re-enact the current system. Stephens said it is "a little surprising" that the groups that backed the merit selection system when it was first passed are not pushing for the system to stay.

"If you do nothing, then the system dies," Stephens said.

White added that there may be things happening in Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga to push the merit selection system and the judicial performance evaluations -- that they have not heard about yet. She said if the bills do sunset, they could be brought back up for a period of time in the state House and Senate.

The speakers both agreed that citizens should let their local representative or senator know if they believe the merit system should be kept.

Funding campaigns

Blount County residents who attended the event asked questions about elected judges. One citizen asked if it was possible for a judge who was backed politically and financially by a "political machine" to be fair.

"I think it's possible," White replied. "I hope I did it."

She added that she thought the "greater the ability to buy the bench," the "more difficult" it is to be fair.

Other citizens asked if it was realistic or possible for elected judges to be bipartisan. Both Stephens and White agreed it was "possible and perhaps probable."

White and Stephens pointed out that North Carolina has been experimenting with "publicly financed judicial races." The candidates must raise some money to show support and then public assistance kicks in, allowing all judges the same amount of financial backing.

Stephens said that if Tennessee would experiment with public funding, it would hold more hope to make bipartisanship in judicial races realistic.

The speakers also discussed how citizens can select the best trial judge candidate.

Stephens said voters should spend time researching the candidates and look at their backgrounds.

White said a good trial judge should have patience, modesty and a work ethic. She added that the candidates' personal viewpoints on social issues should not be important because the law will dictate the results most of the time.