Concerned about the judges being elected this year?

There's more than one way to skin a cat... or at least declaw it. Looks like California is passing a law that requires judges to recuse themselves from cases involving parties that gave them more than $1,500 in campaign contributions. North Carolina could always pass a similar law, severing at least one connection between well-funded judge candidates and ideological backers:

Legislation in California would establish grounds for removing a judge from hearing a case in which one of the parties had given him or her more than $1,500 in campaign contributions in the previous six years. The legislation (AB2487) was approved unanimously by the Assembly and now goes to the state Senate. North Carolina has no clear standard for when judges should disqualify themselves, but this issue will gain more attention in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last June regarding recusal in a case involving the Massey coal company.

(From the Democracy NC Link-of-the-Day)