Any minute now, a horde of political trolls will arrive and post a bucketload of comments here, at least half of which will be in all caps. I’m sure of it.
In the time period during which this cartoon originally ran - at least where I lived - the average judge was appointed - NOT elected! Whichever party won the majority of top seats in your county got to appoint the judges, justices of the peace, etc. Even, in some cases, postmasters were appointed (didn’t have to take proficiency tests or anything.) Whichever party won the national election would contact the party chairman in the city or town which needed a judge, justice of the peace or postmaster - and the party chairman would recommend a good friend - and good party member - for the jobl. So, in many jurisdictions, the average judge didn’t really need to know a lot about the law - he just needed to be good buddies with whomever was running the show. Although the passage of the Hatch Act in 1939 supposedly prohibited FEDERAL employees from engaging in political activities, many states, counties and municipalities continued to use the “spoils” system for determining who would serve in which positions in the state, county or city governments. Even as late as 1972 and 1983, the city of Chicago was STILL making attempts to get rid of theh “spoils” system as the major system for determining who would serve in which city job.
Sherlock Watson about 15 years ago
Any minute now, a horde of political trolls will arrive and post a bucketload of comments here, at least half of which will be in all caps. I’m sure of it.
jppjr about 15 years ago
Judge Roy Bean has arrived!!!
DebJ4 about 15 years ago
In the time period during which this cartoon originally ran - at least where I lived - the average judge was appointed - NOT elected! Whichever party won the majority of top seats in your county got to appoint the judges, justices of the peace, etc. Even, in some cases, postmasters were appointed (didn’t have to take proficiency tests or anything.) Whichever party won the national election would contact the party chairman in the city or town which needed a judge, justice of the peace or postmaster - and the party chairman would recommend a good friend - and good party member - for the jobl. So, in many jurisdictions, the average judge didn’t really need to know a lot about the law - he just needed to be good buddies with whomever was running the show. Although the passage of the Hatch Act in 1939 supposedly prohibited FEDERAL employees from engaging in political activities, many states, counties and municipalities continued to use the “spoils” system for determining who would serve in which positions in the state, county or city governments. Even as late as 1972 and 1983, the city of Chicago was STILL making attempts to get rid of theh “spoils” system as the major system for determining who would serve in which city job.