Judges are critical to our system, yet it can be very difficult to find information about these most important people.
There are two source you can easily access for information:
AZVoterguide.com – This website is hosted by the Center for Arizona Policy. When you look at the judicial section you will see the survey they sent out to judicial candidates. Some of the candidates answered the survey, some sent a letter explaining their judicial viewpoint and some ignored the survey. Additionally, there is a link to the judge’s biography.
The other resource is Arizona Courts Judicial Performance Review. There are attorney surveys and judge surveys giving review rankings to each candidate.
The best way to know a judge is to watch him or her in court and read their opinions. For Supreme Court and Appeals Court judges reading their opinions is easier, but time consuming. To help with that job, the AzVoterGuide.com site lists a few opinions you can read to give you an overall sense of a judge’s outlook.
Justice Antonin Scalia gave a nice overview of judging judges for C-Span in 2009.