Rebecca Love Kourlis Discusses Efforts to Improve the Judicial Retention Process

LawWeek Colorado recently interviewed Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis about IAALS' efforts to build public confidence and trust for judges and the court system. Referencing a recent publication of the Quality Judges Initiative, "Cornerstones of State Judicial Selection," Kourlis asserts that constituents expect judges to be honest, fair, and faithful to the rule of law and for courts to be impartial, accountable, and transparent. To achieve these principles, Kourlis says that citizens need to think critically about whether the current judicial retention system is delivering what they want out of judges and the courts.

According to Kourlis, IAALS strives to facilitate this critical thinking by asking in a bipartisan way, "Are we doing this the right way? Can we do it better? And if so, what are our next steps?” IAALS hopes that by centering on the public's expectations and working to build public confidence, the judicial retention process will improve and "the move toward the politicitization of the judiciary can be forestalled.”