Litigation

Whither the 2010 Retention Battle Trend?

By Peter Hardin

On Election Day, an investigative news blog has turned a spotlight on a surprising trend of the season: special interest groups working to oust judges in once-quiet retention elections, all over single issue rulings.

The twist is that these up-or-down races “were originally designed to limit the influence of special interest money,” reports a Raw Story article that is headlined, “Business groups poised to turn judges into ‘politicians in robes.’”

The report focuses in part on a business-led campaign in Illinois to oust Justice Thomas Kilbride, and on the questionable attack ads used to portray him as soft on crime (see Gavel Grab for background on this race), although key critics are driven by his vote on medical malpractice limits.

This race and others, the article suggests, raise concerns about fair and impartial justice. To explain some of these issues, the article quotes Charles Hall, communications director for the Justice at Stake Campaign:

?What we?re seeing now is a much more strategic targeting of judges who rule ?the wrong way.’ And clearly that undermines the whole notion that judges are supposed to be thinking about the law before the politics.

?What we don?t want is judges consulting with pollsters before they write a ruling in a case.?

The article cites a “groundbreaking” recent report co-authored by Justice at Stake on soaring spending in judicial elections over the past decade. It invokes retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s stated concern that the influx of money and advertising into judicial elections will make Americans think of judges as just “politicians in robes.”

It also credits Justice at Stake with posing a  troubling concern about the ripple effect if  special interest groups prevail on Election Day:

“If this exploitation of retention elections is successful, it could lead to a whole new tsunami of special interest spending in judicial races across the nation.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 02, 2010 (boomark / email).