Judges

This post doesn't have to do this week's parsha. Rather, it deals with parshat Shoftim.
This morning I read an article about the appointments of Israeli Supreme Court Justices being hindered.

The Committee for Appointment of Judges convened in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon in a stormy showdown between leftist forces led by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and centrist-nationalists, as three vacant Supreme Court positions wait to be manned. The meeting ended at around 8:00 p.m. with no agreement having been reached. The next sessions will be held in January and February.
Read full article: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149930

If being a "rightist" or a "leftist" is the consideration for being appointed a judge these days, I resolved to find what theTorah has to say about the subject.

2.What qualifications should one look for when appointing a judge?
2.What qualifications should one look for when appointing a judge?
16:18 - That he is expert in the law and that he is righteous.
http://ohr.edu/1195

According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, either right or left (17:11)

Even if this judge tells you that right is left, and that left is right. How much more so, if he tells you that right is right, and left is left!
(Sifri; Rashi)
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/default_cdo/aid/55289/jewish/In-Depth.htm

Wow! Rashi knew about right and left even in the old days.

And here's something that is perplexing to me from a hearing that took place on Friday.

On November 19, the deputy campaign manager of the Obama campaign posted that, "yesterday, four Republicans in the New Hampshire State House allowed a hearing requested by Orly Taitz..."
I thought that the hearing was based on an individual filing a complaint challenging the eligibility of a candidate. I didn't realize that the four Republicans had to allow the hearing before it could be addressed by the New Hampshire Ballot Commission.