# How to get more information on (potential) district court judges? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402 "2010-08-06T15:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/1 "2010-08-06T15:10:07Z")
There is an upcoming primary election on August 10th here in Minnesota. How on earth do you find out the actual views of the potential (1st District Court - Judge 8) Judges? I’d learned that the incumbent, Blakely, was reprimanded (something about discounts for his own divorce.) With the other two, I can only find out their main web pages and a few news articles, nothing that articulates their actual views, beyond many a nice sounding word. The first: [Stephen Allan Baker](http://www.bakerforjudge2010.com/index.html): I’m leaning toward him as he is all about volunteering. The second: [Larry Clark](http://www.electlarryclark.org/): From his web page he strikes me as a very ‘real’ type of man, but no idea as to his views. Is there any place you can go to get a good view on the actual views of these people? (I’m not wanting to vote for the incumbent with the scandals.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/2 "2010-08-06T15:13:35Z")
Try the [website](http://www.lwvmn.org/Vote/Election.asp) of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/3 "2010-08-06T15:33:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Try the [website](http://www.lwvmn.org/Vote/Election.asp) of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota. Thanks! That’s a pretty useful site! Would have saved me the trouble of googling everyone, checking Wikipedia, searching for news articles etc… 😉 It’s pretty thin in the judges section: I think I’ll try to carefully scour their web pages and make the best choice I can. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/4 "2010-08-06T15:38:42Z")
What I like about the LWV is that they’re non-partisan. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/5 "2010-08-06T15:56:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What I like about the LWV is that they’re non-partisan. Yes - nice site! I’m going through it now to double that I hadn’t missed anything for the other races. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/6 "2010-08-06T16:40:38Z")
In general, it’s very difficult to find information on judicial candidates, and to a large extent it’s an institutional problem. We’re expected to elect them, but most states put them in “non-partisan” (bullcrap!) elections. And they’re also restricted from fully discussing their political views under many state laws. The system also helps them camouflage their political leanings if they so desire. Very often judges are just lawyers, and if a particular lawyer hasn’t been open about his or her political views, there’s not much to dig up. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-more-information-on-potential-district-court-judges/549402/7 "2010-08-06T17:05:04Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > In general, it’s very difficult to find information on judicial candidates, and to a large extent it’s an institutional problem. We’re expected to elect them, but most states put them in “non-partisan” (bullcrap!) elections. And they’re also restricted from fully discussing their political views under many state laws. The system also helps them camouflage their political leanings if they so desire. Very often judges are just lawyers, and if a particular lawyer hasn’t been open about his or her political views, there’s not much to dig up. Interesting - this does seem to be the case in this particular election!