N.Y. Judge Selection Unconstitutional

ABC News reports:

The method of picking state trial judges violates the Constitution, a federal appeals court decided Wednesday as it upheld a lower court's ruling.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed that a 2004 challenge to the process is likely to succeed because the First Amendment rights of candidates and voters are violated.

The earlier ruling found the state's unique practice of using political conventions, not primaries, to decide who would make the ballot gave too much power to political party bosses. Critics say the conventions are patronage-driven affairs in which allies of party leaders are rewarded with judgeships and all others shut out.

Patronage takes another hit.