Paul Waldman hates of how we elect judges:
Apart from a few local elected judgeships in Switzerland and retention elections for some judges in Japan, no other country uses popular elections to determine who should sit on the bench (this document gives a rundown of the systems in different countries, if you're interested). Yet in America, most state and local judges attain their posts through that combination of glad-handing, pandering, character assassination, and begging for money that is the modern election campaign.