What makes a good judge?

Hello, my name is Judge Kenton Skarin, and I am running for Illinois Third District Appellate Court in November 2024.

Today I want to talk about what makes a good judge.  As Americans, we have a lot of confusion about what judges are supposed to do.  People think judges pick sides and make law.  That is wrong.

Good judges understand that they only have power to act because they are faithfully applying the laws as they are written.  Good judges know that laws only have power because the people who appear in court approved those laws, either directly or through their legislators.  This is as fundamental as the Declaration of Independence, which says governments “deriv[e] their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

That means that judicial power in American flows from the people, through their elected representatives, into laws that judges swear to apply based on the best possible interpretation of the text.  Judges are not enrobed legislators.  Judges are not supposed to make policy choices based on their political preferences.

So the next time you hear a judicial candidate asking you to vote for him or her because of some hot button political topic, ask yourself, “does that judge have a clue how to do the job?”  Any judge who is not looking first to the law and trying to understand it and apply it faithfully does not understand the job or deserve your vote.

We don’t vote for judges based on politics.  We vote for judges who will apply the laws that we enacted based on what those laws say.

I promise you that I will apply the law fairly, as written, and not based on politics.  I am asking you to vote for me in November 2024.

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