Sir, – The prospect of deep divisions along party lines regarding Donald Trump’s US supreme court appointment raises a key issue about the healthy functioning of a democracy.
In Ireland, we have had the same issue simmering in the background for a long time – the issue of party political input to key judicial appointments.
Such political input interferes with a key pillar of parliamentary democracy, the separation of powers.
Recently there has been talk here of putting in place an independent judicial appointments committee composed of some members of the legal profession, together with a mix of others drawn from those with some expertise in social matters, as well from the public at large.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Moves in that direction in both jurisdictions would go a long way towards strengthening confidence in the judicial system here and defusing an ever-present source of controversy in the US. – Yours, etc,
HARRY McCAULEY,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.