A new national poll shows that large bipartisan majorities of Americans believe elected judges deliver favored treatment to their campaign backers, and similar majorities support reforms to curb the perception that justice is for sale. Learn more from Gavel Grab.
From 1999-2008, state Supreme Court candidates raised $200.4 million- more than twice the $85.4 million raised from 1989-1998.
Justice at Stake in the News
On September 30, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will join Justice at Stake Campaign and the Committee for Economic Development for a discussion of The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009: Decade of Change. This newly released report shows how special-interest money exploded in state court races in 2000-2009—posing an unprecedented threat to the fairness, impartiality and independence of America’s courts.
Remember the infamous Lady Justice TV commercial portraying a justice peeking from under her blindfold to see bags of cash being dumped on her desk? Then-Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick, a Democrat, managed to win a third six-year term in 2000 despite the ad. Eleventh District Court of...
Perhaps it was the foreword written by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor that made it a top story last week around the country. But regardless of the reason, the study detailing the influence of special interest campaign spending in state supreme court races is noteworthy. Heres the...
Judicial retention races are usually about as exciting as renewing your driver's license. Usually Illinois judges up for retention don't run against anyone, and the ballot simply asks voters whether they want to keep the jurist on the bench by marking yes or no. No Illinois Supreme Court justice has...
Our courts are only as good as our confidence that judges are beholden to the law -- and only the law -- and not to the corporations and special-interest groups that spend the big bucks to get them on the bench. It's hard to keep the faith, though, when one...
Washington had competitive races for two state Supreme Court positions on this summer's primary ballot. If a new study of campaign fundraising for judicial elections is any guide, those races are likely to have attracted more special interest money than any before them. The study, released last week, found that...
POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS are often vicious and expensive endeavors, featuring partisans who promise the heavens to win votes. The credibility of institutions sometimes suffers. The nation's state courts suffer more than most. A report by a trio of public-interest groups documents how the most distasteful elements of campaigns have gained a...
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ This week the Brennan Center issued a report highlighting the costs of judicial races in Alabama. That is a subject with which our editorial boards in Alabama have seemed infatuated for a number of years - especially since Republicans took over the Alabama Supreme Court. And there...
Judicial elections always have been something of a conundrum. Candidates for other seats are expected to engage in politics - to advocate a particular viewpoint, represent a particular constituency and seek the support of identifiable parties that share the candidates' perspective. Once elected, the candidate is expected to pursue the...
TO AGAIN argue an old cause, the pressing need for taking politics out of the process of selecting judges, we start by quoting these wise words: We all expect judges to be accountable to the law rather than political supporters or special interests. But elected judges in many states are...
The Ohio Supreme Court last week loosened campaign rules for men and women running for Ohio judgeships. The high court's action came in the wake of a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that killed some restrictions Kentucky had imposed on that state's judicial candidates. The result would have...
Alabama Justice Tom Parker's Aug. 18 guest column raises some interesting points about judges and accountability. He paints a rather rosy and misleading picture of Alabama judicial politics, however, and completely mischaracterizes the judicial role. Judges with general jurisdiction have always had the power and the responsibility to make law...
Something is badly out of kilter when Alabama makes it to the top of a list of spending on judicial campaigns yet remains not far from the bottom economically. How in the world can candidates for the Supreme Court in Alabama spend more than candidates in any other state from...
News that Alabama's Supreme Court elections easily were the nation's most expensive over the past decade raises an obvious question: Why? How can high court elections in the 23rd most populous state, with 4.7 million people, cost so much more than those in the next closest states, Ohio, with 11.5...
