Litigation

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

By Peter Hardin

In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts:

• While some have suggested that Iowa justices ought to campaign actively in retention elections, “[t]hat would be a corruption of the constitutional amendment Iowa voters approved 48 years ago that did away with electing judges,” a Des Moines Register editorial said. The suggestion was floated following last year’s elections, when three justices were ousted over a controversial gay marriage ruling.

• The Senate voted to confirm lawyer Amy Totenberg and Judge Steve C. Jones to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, according to the ACS blog of the American Constitution Society. The actions brought to seven the number of judicial confirmations by the Senate so far this term.

• A jury was hearing closing arguments Wednesday in the trial of Pennsylvania state Sen. Jane Orie, accused of exploiting state resources for the political campaigns of herself and her sister, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 02, 2011 (boomark / email).