Litigation

?Justice for Sale? Editorial Cites JAS

Posted on October 27, 2010
At the rate that Alabama Supreme Court candidates raise campaign money, “justice in Alabama is going to look like it?s for sale,” cautions a Birmingham Press-Register editorial. Alabama has the costliest Supreme Court contests in the nation...

JAS Warns Against Impeachment Talk

Posted on October 27, 2010
“Political threats don?t belong in America?s courtrooms,” Bert Brandenburg, the executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, said today as he cautioned against talk of impeaching Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Rep...

In Battleground States, Calls for Reform

Posted on October 27, 2010
Two newspapers in states with scorching judicial elections are surveying the political battlegrounds and ensuing public distrust, and they’re concluding that reform is crucial. A Chicago Tribune editorial urges a switch to merit selection of judges after it frames a high-spending retention race for Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat, as mainly a partisan political battle [...

Brandenburg: Examine Judge?s Whole Record

Posted on October 27, 2010
“When should a judge be thrown out of office?” Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, offers a quick voter’s guide to answering that question in a guest commentary for the Denver Post. His advice can best be summed up by the column’s headline, Look at the “whole record of judges before [...

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Former MI Justice: She Recorded Her Colleagues

Posted on October 27, 2010
First, an African American, Republican justice in Michigan acknowledged using the N-word in a private conference several years ago. Now, this back-story from the heated Michigan Supreme Court elections has become more startling, with a former justice saying she recorded her fellow justices while discussing cases with them in 2006...

MI Voters Bombarded by TV Attack Ads

Posted on October 26, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPerCz2_ajo Attack ads are bombarding voters  in Michigan, where a big-spending special interest group has launched TV ads critical of a Democratic state Supreme Court justice and a Democratic candidate. A TV ad run by the Virginia-based Law Enforcement Alliance of America starts with stark black-and-white images of economic recession and unemployment...

Nevadans to Vote on Merit Selection Plan

Posted on October 26, 2010
On two occasions, the Nevada legislature has advanced a plan to change the state’s system for choosing judges and high-court justices. In just a week, it will be time for Nevada voters to decide whether they want to switch from competitive elections to a system of judicial appointments and retention elections...

IL, IA Retention Elections Hard-Fought to End

Posted on October 26, 2010
In Illinois, a state Supreme Court justice facing a tough and big-spending retention (up-or-down) election says he worries about the future of our courts. In Iowa, a new poll showed that voters are narrowly divided over ousting three justices in retention elections; the three were part of a unanimous court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage [...

Who?s Bankrolling the MI Supreme Court Campaigns?

Posted on October 26, 2010
In rough-and-tumble campaigns for two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court, trial lawyers and unions are in the forefront of giving financial support to two Democrats, and business groups are among top backers of the Republican candidates. That’s according to an analysis of donations through Oct...

For ?Frightening Times,? Truly ?Scary? Judicial Ads

Posted on October 26, 2010
UPDATE: In a new attack ad, Michigan Democrats say Republican Justice Robert Young agreed that corporations can spend millions “to elect judges like himself who rule in their favor.” They are slimy. They are scary. They are creepy and truly frightening, and it’s just a coincidence they’re infecting our airwaves at Halloween...

Justices Refuse to Block Key ME Election Laws

Posted on October 25, 2010
The Supreme Court has declined to block portions of Maine?s campaign financing laws that deal with public financing of campaigns, disclosure requirements and campaign contribution limits. After losing rounds in lower courts, critics of the Maine provisions sought an injunction from the nation’s highest court...

MI Justice Concedes Using N-Word, Slams Ex-Colleague

Posted on October 25, 2010
It’s one of the more surprising reports to come out of the contentious 2010 judicial elections. After former Justice Elizabeth Weaver brought up the issue, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young Jr., who is seeking reelection in a heated campaign, acknowledged he used the n-word in a private conference with other justices in 2006, according [...

Chamber Spin-Off Spends Big in Ohio Races

Posted on October 25, 2010
The Partnership for Ohio?s Future, which has received funding from the Ohio and U.S. Chambers of Commerce, spent more than $1.57 million in support of two Republican candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court through Oct. 13. The Partnership poured almost $1...

Election 2010: Dueling Over IA Ouster Drive

Posted on October 25, 2010
Dueling over the campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices reached a fever pitch today. Ouster advocates kicked off a 20-stop bus tour and their foes warned that removing all 74 judges up in November retention elections could threaten public safety...

Bopp Profile: ?Man Behind our Secret Elections?

Posted on October 25, 2010
James Bopp Jr.  is not widely known, yet he wields tremendous influence as “The Man Behind our Secret Elections,”  a new report by Common Cause and Public Campaign suggests. Bopp “is one of the powerful and influential leaders of corporate America’s efforts to dismantle the post-Watergate campaign finance system,” begins the report about the Indiana-based [...

IL Judges? Group Hits ?Ugly, Deceptive? Attack

Posted on October 22, 2010
A group of active and retired Illinois state judges is condemning “incendiary” special interest group attacks on a sitting state Supreme Court justice as outright false and threatening  judicial independence. Special interest groups seeking to oust Justice Thomas Kilbride in a November retention election “have resorted to ugly misrepresentations and falsehood” of his opinions, and [...

More TV Ads Fly in 2010 Elections

Posted on October 22, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0NX8heCKu8 More judicial candidates and supporters are taking to the air as the countdown to Election Day advances. In Michigan, a TV ad by the campaign of Justice Alton Thomas Davis touts his credentials as a former Detroit public school teacher who will be ?a voice for those who aren?t being heard...

Wall Street Journal Parrots a Bogus Claim

Posted on October 22, 2010
In early September, the American Justice Partnership tried to startle the world with its claim that a Justice at Stake funder has spent $45 million to end competitive judicial elections. Today, the Wall Street Journal parroted that claim in its ongoing attacks against judicial election reform...

MI, MN Candidates Prefer Appointing Judges

Posted on October 22, 2010
In two Midwestern states, candidates running for election have endorsed appointment, rather than the election, of judges. Michigan Supreme Court Justice Alton Davis said in an interview with the Battle Creek Enquirer that he favors appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, rather having candidates secure a nomination from a political [...

Thursday Judicial Elections Roundup

Posted on October 21, 2010
In dispatches from state judicial elections, and also about ballot initiatives, around the country: GEORGIA: The Secretary of State’s office is looking at information about a potential election law violation by lawyer Matt Wilson, campaigning for a seat on the state Supreme Court, after the campaign of incumbent Justice David Nahmias raised questions, an Atlanta [...

Election 2010: MI Justice Faces Attack Ad

Posted on October 21, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvXvRG_zUo An air war is developing in Michigan’s Supreme Court elections, with Democrats targeting incumbent Justice Robert Young Jr., a Republican, as letting environmental polluters off the hook. “Bob Young: Polluters Don’t pay...

IA Campaign Finance Rules Intact, for Now

Posted on October 21, 2010
Just weeks before Election Day, Federal District Judge Robert Pratt of Iowa is refusing a request by Iowa Right to Life for a preliminary injunction against the state’s new campaign finance rules. Iowa Right to Life “has asked this court to … radically change Iowa’s campaign finance rules midstream during an election,” Judge Pratt wrote, [...

Justices? (and Spousal) Ethics, Decorum Eyed

Posted on October 21, 2010
Published reports that two Supreme Court justices attended seminars sponsored by Koch Industries, a manufacturing conglomerate that bankrolls conservative causes, have stirred up questions about judicial ethics, according to a Huffington Post article...

Campaign Finance: Anticipating the 2012 Elections

Posted on October 20, 2010
In the 2010 elections, the winner and loser will be… “Obfuscation” and “transparency,” respectively, predicts lawyer Ciara Torres-Spelliscy of the Brennan Center for Justice in a Huffington Post commentary on “the apocryphal midterm election...

TX Judge: ?Vindicated? by Dismissal of Reprimand

Posted on October 20, 2010
Judge Sharon Keller, Texas’ top criminal court judge, said she feels “vindicated” by a special three-judge panel’s dismissal of an earlier reprimand against her. “It’s been a three-year-long ordeal,” Judge Keller added, according to a Texas Lawyer article...

Bar Faults Group?s Ad Attack on IL Justice

Posted on October 20, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxnL8kpJEwA The Illinois State Bar Association has condemned a soft-on-crime advertising attack leveled against state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride run by JUSTPAC, a group affiliated with the Illinois Civil Justice League...

New Ad Hits ?Activist? Judges in Iowa

Posted on October 20, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBEynTYEyPY A new ad is airing in Iowa, funded by $200,000 from the National Organization for Marriage, that derides the “ruling class” and assails the state Supreme Court’s “activist” ruling in overturning a ban on same-sex marriage...

NV Newspaper Endorses Reform

Posted on October 19, 2010
The Las Vegas Sun, changing its tone, has recommended a “yes” vote in November on a ballot initiative for merit-based selection of Nevada judges. An editorial declared: “The judiciary is the last bastion of hope for the people against a tyrannical government, and we owe it to ourselves to get the best people on the [...

Election 2010: Spending Soars in IL Retention Race

Posted on October 19, 2010
As retention elections go, spending in the battle over reelecting Illinois Justice Thomas Kilbride is surging into the stratosphere, according to the latest report on the 2010 elections by the Justice at Stake Campaign and the Brennan Center for Justice...

USA Today: Justice to the ?Highest Bidder??

Posted on October 19, 2010
What happens when single-issue groups seek reprisal against judges over rulings they dislike? A USA Today editorial surveys the landscape of judicial election battles fueled by soaring spending, poses that question, and furnishes this answer: “If single-issue groups get their way, judges everywhere will start looking over their shoulders every time they vote in a [...

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