Today is primary day. As last week’s Supreme Court decisions eviscerating New York’s sensible restrictions on gun possession and ending a federal right to abortion remind us, democracy remains the best way to get a government responsive to the public’s desires.
Like the New York City Bar Association (founded 1870), the Daily News (founded 1919) has long supported the merit selection of judges instead of by election, elections controlled by political party bosses, which means the Democrats here in the city. Having a president or governor or mayor choose judges and accordingly be wary of picking a rotten apple or a dud is far better than a backroom deal cut by the hacks not accountable to the public.