About the the Elmo B. Hunter
Citizens Center for Judicial Selection

The Hunter Center for Judicial Selection was founded in 1991 to further the American Judicature Society's historic interest in judicial selection issues. Today the Center is a nationally recognized research center that conducts, synthesizes, and disseminates empirical research on a wide range of judicial selection issues. Acting as a clearinghouse of information on judicial selection for state court administrators, lawmakers, the media, the legal and academic communities, and court reform organizations, the Center serves its core audiences in a number of ways:

• Undertaking groundbreaking research on such topics as demographic diversity in the merit selection process, the prevalence of midterm appointments in states that utilize competitive elections for judicial office, and the use of nominating commissions by U.S. senators to identify nominees for federal judgeships.
• Working with other court-related organizations to increase public awareness of, and involvement with, state justice issues through forums and public discussions. The Center sponsored the first national forum on judicial selection in Washington, D.C., in March 2000.
• Monitoring and providing assistance to grassroots judicial reform efforts in the states. Center staff are currently working closely with reform groups in several states to promote the adoption of judicial merit selection.
• Educating international visitors on methods of judicial selection in the United States and their respective implications for judicial independence and accountability. This year the Center has hosted attorneys and legal scholars from Spain, China, and Ukraine.
• Organizing meetings and conferences on judicial selection topics of current interest. In 2006, AJS presented a program on rethinking strategies for judicial selection reform.