Litigation

IL Justice Kilbride Survives Retention Vote

By Peter Hardin

Voters chose to keep Illinois Justice Thomas Kilbride on the bench after a nasty retention election in which he faced fierce and well-funded opposition from groups supporting limits on jury awards in malpractice cases.

In Colorado, Alaska, Kansas and Florida, organized efforts to remove justices in retention (up-or-down) elections also failed.

Justice Kilbride (photo at right) provoked fury from big business and insurance interests over his vote siding with a court majority against limits on medical malpractice claims. He became the subject of attacks that painted him as soft on crime because, his critics said, this approach would rile more voters.

The advertising approach, however, was condemned or questioned for its credibility by groups ranging from the state bar and active and retired judges to independent fact-checkers. The attacks garnered national editorial attention over their ugliness and questionable veracity.

In a high-spending election that saw more than $3.1 million raised, Justice Kilbride won votes supporting reelection from 65 percent of voters, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to an Associated Press article.

Justice Kilbride is a Democrat. According to a Chicago Tribune report, “The makeup of the Supreme Court ? currently four Democrats and three Republicans ? is crucial to both major political parties and interest groups because the panel rules on everything from the constitutionality of state law to legislative maps that help decide who controls the General Assembly.”

In Colorado, although vote returns were incomplete, it appeared that voters retained Justices Nancy Rice, Michael Bender and Alex Martinez, according to a Denver Post article.

A group called Clear the Bench sought to unseat the justices, whom it had accused of  improperly driving up state spending and taxes.

In Kansas, voters retained Justices Carol Beier, Dan Biles, Marla Luckert and Lawton Nuss, the Wichita Eagle reported, and in two counties rejected attempts to get rid of merit selection for local trial judges.

Social conservatives sought to deny re-election to Kansas Justice Beier over her views on abortion. The same was true in Alaska, where abortion foes mounted unsuccessfully an effort to unseat Justice Dana Fabe. She received just support for another 10-year term from just over 50 percent of the voters,  the Anchorage Daily News reported.

In Florida, four Supreme Court justices, including two targeted by tea party activists, appeared headed for retention, the Associated Press reported.

Justices James Perry and Jorge Labarga, targets of tea party opposition,  had gained  61 percent yes votes and  58 percent yes votes in early returns, respectively. Chief Justice Charles Canady was getting 67 percent yes votes and Justice Ricky Polston, 65 percent, in the early returns.

You can learn more about these and other races from  Justice at Stake?s  Election 2010 results page and from a JAS analysis out today.

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 03, 2010 (boomark / email).