Want to be a judge? Just pay me enough

It sounds as though our government is now selling judgeships to the highest bidder. I don't know whether this has been going on widely before, but it's pretty despicable. From Raw Story:

An investigation reveals that two dozen federal judges contributed thousands of dollars to Republicans who "helped place them on the bench," Salon is reporting.

"A four-month investigation of Bush-appointed judges by the Center for Investigative Reporting," writes Will Evans, "reveals that six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of more than $44,000 to politicians who were influential in their appointments."

Some contributed money directly to the President after being officially nominated by him, the article reports. "Other judges contributed to Republican campaign committees while they were under consideration for a judgeship."

Evans lists several Republicans who "received money from judges en route to the bench," among them Sen. Arlen Specter (PA), Gov. George Pataki (NY), and Sens. Rick Santorum (PA) and Mike DeWine (OH), both of whom are struggling to win re-election in their respective states.