Does Merit Selection Work?

According to Goelzhauser, merit selection supporters argue that the use of commissioners with requisite legal experience reduces the influence of partisan and patronage considerations, which presumably leads to higher-quality judicial appointees and greater access to judicial office for traditionally underrepresented groups. [...]he examines how the institutional design of merit selection affects committee capture, which could negatively affect merit selection performance. According to Goelzhauser, "if merit selection works as intended, commissions and governors should be selecting on qualifications and diversity rather than political considerations" (p. 56). Years of professional experience, public and private practice experience, and law school quality are a few of the factors used to assess judicial qualifications (p.59-60), and partisan affiliation is measured using the candidate's partisan identification and campaign donation history (p. 60).