Typically, the opinions of U.S. Supreme Court Justices are the only ones that matter, but it remains to be seen how much weight will be carried by an opinion issued today.

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor came to South Bend to speak against a proposal to switch to elected judges in the St. Joseph Superior Court.

Those judges have been appointed under the so-called merit system since 1973.

Members of the Indiana General Assembly have one week to wrap up their 2009 session. A bill that calls for elected judges in St. Joseph County (H.B. 1491) is still alive, and feared by some in the local legal community.

O’Connor’s speech was sponsored by the St. Joseph County Bar Association.

“The runner is rounding third and headed toward home I guess at this point so we’ll see,” said South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke who attended today’s program. “Obviously a lot of energy in the room today and I’m sure that there will be many people lobbying legislators on this issue.”

O’Connor’s visit perhaps lost some of its potential punch—at least outside the confines of the Palais Royale--because she banned all electronic recording devices. Her words won’t be heard far and wide.

During her speech, O’Connor expressed the opinion that the local judiciary needed to remain appointed in order to remain independent. As she put it, “They must be able to put what is right and wrong, above what is popular….”

“Well I hope it makes a difference,” said Indiana State Bar Association President William Jonas. “It is a voice among many voices.”

There are indications that today’s visit by Justice O’Connor won’t be the only attempt of local elected judge opponents to win friends in high places.

“We were hoping to defeat this in the House, we didn't. We were hoping to defeat this in the Senate, we didn't.
It’s in the conference committee—I doubt we'll defeat it there, so now it’s on to the governor. And the governor can veto it, and we're hoping he will,” said Chief Judge Michael Scopelitis of the St. Joseph Superior Court.

There’s now something about the bill that is bound to get the governor’s attention. Thanks to an amendment added by the senate, the bill is now costly.

H.B. 1491 no longer deals solely with judicial selection in St. Joseph County. It also calls for adding three additional judges to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

“I would suggest and I think there are a lot of people who believe, right now is not the time to spend three million dollars on a new court when the unemployment fund is bankrupt,” said Jonas.

“What's the purpose of this bill,” asked Judge Scopelitis. “It’s obviously just to remove merit selection from St. Joe County and it’s going to cost the state three to four million dollars to do it.”

In Indianapolis today the conference committee working on H.B. 1491 met for the first time this afternoon.

One change was made to the bill according to committee member Rep. Jackie Walorski.

The bill started out calling for non-partisan elections to seat superior court judges. The conference committee report now calls for partisan elections—meaning the judicial candidates would have to declare a party affiliation.

The 2009 session of the Indiana General Assembly ends one week from today on Wednesday April 29th.