Litigation

AJP Attack Widening, Washington Post Reports

By Peter Hardin

The American Justice Partnership (AJP) is a frequent critic of Justice Sandra Day O?Connor?s efforts on behalf of fair courts.  Earlier this year, after her husband?s death, AJP called O?Connor ?the Empress Dowager of the merit selection crowd.?

Now the Washington Post reports that the group is broadening its attack to groups sympathetic to merit selection of judges and other reforms, which they see as a conspiracy of ?invidious attacks on the independence of the judiciary.?

The AJP, which was founded by the National Association of Manufacturers, spent more than $2 million in high court races this decade.  It does not disclose its funding sources.

Its attacks are also out of sync with the 71 percent of business executives who support merit selection and retention elections.  According to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey of business leaders, four of the five states with the most trusted ?lawsuit climates? use merit selection for Supreme Court justices, while four of the five lowest-ranking states have competitive elections. And, as a Harris Interactive poll showed last week, support for reforms to reduce special-interest influence on the courts is ?broad and bipartisan,? in the words of JAS Executive Director Bert Brandenburg.

Full post as published by The Gavel on September 13, 2010 (boomark / email).