Proposal simply out of order

Review of judges doesn’t pass muster

In the wake of a triple homicide in Mattapan, Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes, the president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs of Police As- sociation, floated the idea that all judges should be reviewed every five years by a group of legal professionals “with insight, who really, truly understand the system.”

I don’t doubt that he was speaking from the heart. But when you have a significant position of public service, you are also expected to use your head.

This is a bad idea for so many reasons. The problem is where to start. So let’s begin with a basic point: It won’t work!

Suppose you get a bunch of lawyers together (insert lawyer joke here) who truly understand the court system. Who are they? Well, trial lawyers. Because real estate or corporate lawyers, for example, don’t understand the system; they don’t go to court. And who do trial lawyers have to deal with every day? Judges.

So what makes Chief Kyes think that suddenly these lawyers will meaningfully oversee the very people who can make or break their cases? As a practical matter, they will be as deferential as a scuba diver wearing a steak suit in a school of sharks.

But even if, by some miracle, you could find such brave, independent lawyers, it would still be a terrible idea. The whole reason that Massachusetts appoints judges for life is that, for good or for bad, we value their independence from outside influence.

Under this proposal, the judges will be going robe in hand to a bunch of lawyers every five years to see if they can keep their job. So if the lawyers do find the courage to be tough, now the judges lose their independence and become beholden to the whims of the very people they must control on a daily basis.

And, by the way, who appoints this merry band? Presumably, some group of politicians. Very quickly, this group can — and probably will — become a partisan group that will start taking the politics of the judge and who appointed him or her into account.

They are also unlikely in the extreme to represent any kind of cross-section of the citizens of the commonwealth. Now we have a group of people, the judges, who are not elected being overseen by another group of unelected persons.

My fellow columnist, Mr. Carr, would have field day.

I could go on. I don’t doubt that Chief Kyes is justifiably upset. But you don’t get both to be a police chief and just say what you want. The job requires that you don’t inflame the situation, but think before you speak. This idea was a bad idea, and should never have seen the light of day. a