Report No. 95

7. Should appointees to judgeships of Supreme Court and High Courts have a political background?

Earl Warren was a former crusading prosecutor, three-term Governor of California and Republican Vice-Presidential nominee with the result that when he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, some felt that he had a greater impact on the country than even some Presidents. In Italy a constitutional court which has come into existence in 1955 consists of 15 members, one-third of whom are nominated for 12 years term by the Head of the State, one-third by the legislature and one-third by the judiciary.