Citizens for Judicial Fairness Will Send the Questionnaire to 2024 Candidates for State Office to Determine Stances on Issues Central to CJF’s Mission
Today, Citizens for Judicial Fairness announced its 2024 candidate questionnaire, which will be sent to candidates for state office in Delaware’s 2024 elections. The questionnaire will provide an opportunity for candidates to express their positions on issues that are central to CJF’s advocacy for transparency, equity, and accountability in Delaware’s justice system. CJF will use candidates’ answers to guide engagement in the 2024 elections, including endorsements and other advocacy engagement. The questionnaire follows polling released by CJF showing a Governor’s race with the majority of voters still undecided.
Said Citizens for Judicial Fairness spokesperson and grassroots activist Keandra McDole, “We deserve to know where the candidates who hope to represent us stand on the issues facing our communities. It’s no secret that Delaware’s justice system does not work for all of us – especially Black Delawareans who do not get the same chances to succeed and thrive as our white neighbors. This election cycle, we need candidates to be bold in supporting transparency and equity so that we can make the system work for all of us, not just the privileged few.”
The candidate questionnaire solicits views on the following issues:
Do you support or oppose each of the following proposed reforms? Why or why not?
- Establish an independent Office of Inspector General with rigorous auditing authority to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing Chancery Court rulings
- Diversify Delaware’s top courts to ensure the judiciary reflects the state's population, and represents historically marginalized groups
- Reform the Court on the Judiciary, which oversees ethics in the state’s courts, to ensure that current judges cannot rule on their own conflicts of interest
- Mandate full disclosure of all current and previous employment history, investments and shared business interests for every custodian receiver appointed by the Chancery, and require consent to these appointments by all parties to a case
- Require that every custodian or receiver appointed by the Delaware Chancery Court publicly discloses a complete and itemized list of costs claimed for reimbursement, fees or compensation in the performance of their assignment
- Allow cameras to record, broadcast or livestream all Chancery Court proceedings to provide transparency, and ensure public access to the Court's video records
- Require randomized ‘wheel spin’ in Chancery Court case assignments so Chancellors cannot select the cases they will judge based on their own self-interest
- Require rigorous financial disclosure by every Delaware judge to provide the public with transparency into outside income judges receive in addition to their judicial salaries, including investments, business and charitable affiliations, and gifts
- Create new diversity programs to increase the recruiting and hiring of Black and brown police officers
- Reform the Delaware Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights to combat police misconduct
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