1889 Institute: To save the Oklahoma judiciary, we must reform it

To Save the Oklahoma Judiciary, We Must Reform It The Oklahoma Supreme Court too often acts as though it is a super legislature rather than the state’s highest court. It should be a neutral arbiter, applying the laws passed by the actual Legislature to cases that come before it. Instead, the Court appears to first determine the policy result it desires and then dream up the arbitrary legal reasoning necessary to justify that result. The Oklahoma Legislature is not required to sit idly while the Oklahoma Supreme Court abuses its constitutional authority. It can—and should—act to rein in the Supreme Court. In fact, legislators have a responsibility to jealously guard their own institutional power. After all, we sent them to the Capitol as our representatives. It is what we hired them to do, and they have a duty to do it. The surest way to reform the Court is to change the way justices are selected. That process is dominated by the Oklahoma Bar Association, under a system documented to produce a more left-wing judiciary than other selection methods. Unfortunately, in Oklahoma, doing so would require the heavy lift of a constitutional amendment. But the Legislature is not without recourse. Read more » by Jamison Faught - September 19, 2020 at 06:13PM

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