Pursuing the Judicial Election Reform in the United States : Judicial Independence, Impartiality, and the Public Confidence in the Courts

本研究的重点是美国司法选举的历史发展及其近期面临的挑战和改革。19世纪50年代，各州修改宪法引入司法选举的主要目的是使司法机构强大并独立于其他政治部门，而不是将其置于人民自己的控制之下。然而，由于各种利益集团的参与，现代司法选举比以往任何时候都更加政治化，这引起了全国对确保正当程序所要求的司法公正和公平审判的广泛关注。针对这些担忧，美国最高法院已着手处理此事，几个州已开始推动其司法任命制度的改革。通过对以往法律史研究的评价和对司法选举的实证分析，揭示了一些国家试图建立一种新的司法任命制度，在这种制度中，民主控制和公平审判这两个矛盾的因素应该得到协调。此外，事实证明，公众对法院的信心或信任不仅建立在法院的民主问责制和透明度之上，而且建立在对司法独立和公正的普遍期望之上，这是民选法官不同于民选政治家的独特而原始的作用。本研究从比较法的角度出发，对日本最高法院引入任免制等制度，结合司法独立公正、民众对法院的信任等基本主张，提出了重新审视日本最高法院法官任免制度的建议。

This study focuses on the historical development of judicial election and its recent challenges and reforms in the United States. The main purpose for each state to amend its constitution to introduce judicial election in 1850s was to make the judiciary robust and independent from other political branches rather than to put it under control by the people themselves. However, as modern judicial election has become much more politicized than ever through involvement of various interest groups, it caused widespread national concerns over ensuring the judicial impartiality and fair trial required by due process. In response to such concerns, the U. S. Supreme Court has dealt with the matter and several states have begun to promote the reform of their judicial appointment system. Through evaluating the previous studies of legal history and carrying out the empirical analyses on judicial election, it is revealed that some states try to create a new judicial appointment system in which both contradicted elements of democratic control and fair trial should be harmonized. In addition, it is proved that public confidence or trust in the court is based not only on democratic accountability and transparency of the courts, but also on the general expectation for judicial independence and impartiality, the unique and original role of elected judges different from elected politicians. From the viewpoint of comparative law, this study is suggestive for revisiting the judicial appointment system of the Supreme Court of Japan, which introduces retention election like the merit plan, in relation with the basic propositions of judicial independence and impartiality and public confidence in the court.