Litigation

Before Election, Ugly WI Court Rifts Exposed

Posted on March 21, 2011
With an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court less than three weeks away, unusual details of bitter infighting on the court and a threat by one justice to “destroy” another have become public. Justice David Prosser (photo at right), who is running for reelection against attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg, figures centrally in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [...

Progressive Group?s Ad Attacks WI Justice Prosser

Posted on March 19, 2011
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxta4gfm1rU In another sign of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race heating up, a progressive group is airing an election ad tying the incumbent, Justice David Prosser, to Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The ad by the Greater Wisconsin Committee alleges that Justice Prosser “has promised to act as a ‘complement’ to Walker,” according to a Talking [...

NH Impeachment Bill a ?Witch Hunt??

Posted on March 18, 2011
New Hampshire’s House has voted to let its Judiciary Committee investigate for possible impeachment a marital master, a court officer who handles family court cases. The action came on a 242-105 vote, according to an Associated Press article. The resolution also allows the panel to investigate whether there are grounds to launch impeachment proceedings against [...

Essay: Confirmation Delays Threaten Diversity

Posted on March 18, 2011
It’s little discussed, but a troubling cost of the judicial confirmation crisis is its threat to diversity on the federal bench. That is the intriguing argument advanced in a Huffington Post commentary by Leslie Proll, director of the Washington office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund...

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ABA Head Decries ?Justice in Jeopardy?

Posted on March 18, 2011
Some courts are begging for pens. Others require filers to bring their own paper. Children have grown into adults before their custody cases are resolved. A funding axe hovers over legal aid to the poor. American Bar Association President Stephen N. Zack offers these snapshots from around the country in a forceful commentary in The [...

KS Editorial: Halt ?Political Takeover of Judicial Selection?

Posted on March 18, 2011
An effort in Kansas to replace merit selection of judges on the Court of Appeals with appointment by the governor, subject to state Senate confirmation, is denounced in a Kansas City Star editorial. The bill has passed the House and is bottled up in a Senate committee, where it ought to languish, says the editorial, [...

Public Financing Case Could Have ?Broad Impact?

Posted on March 18, 2011
An upcoming Supreme Court challenge to part of Arizona’s public financing law could have national implications, J. Gerald Hebert and Tara Malloy of the Campaign Legal Center write in that group’s blog. An adverse ruling in McComish v. Bennett could make it more difficult for ordinary citizens to “compete with big money in our democracy,” [...

Bill to Overhaul FL Supreme Court Advances

Posted on March 18, 2011
A proposal to expand the Florida Supreme Court from seven to 10 members and split it into civil and criminal tribunals cleared a state House committee over protests that sponsors were engaged in improper meddling. “I wish they didn’t have this feeling of trying to remake the whole judiciary,” said former Gov...

Friday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 18, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: A letter by Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice urged tweaks to a proposed New York judicial ethics proposal while strongly commending it. The letter was the topic of a Legal Newsline article entitled, “Groups see two problems with N...

WV Public Financing Pilot Faces Setback

Posted on March 17, 2011
West Virginia’s legislature has dealt a setback to the state’s pilot program for public financing of the 2012 state Supreme Court elections. On the final day of the legislature’s session, a Senate panel killed a measure that would have provided nearly twice the amount of money that is now in a fund for the 2012 [...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 16, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: The Florida Initiative for Electoral Reform criticized a legislative proposal to make it easier to dump judges from the bench, and it also used its press release to cite data from Justice at Stake and partner groups about soaring special interest spending in judicial elections...

JAS, Brennan Laud Ethics Rule, Urge Tweaks

Posted on March 16, 2011
Justice at Stake and a partner, the Brennan Center for Justice, are urging tweaks to a proposed New York judicial ethics proposal while strongly commending it. The proposed rule to keep campaign cash out of the courtroom “will protect the reality and perception of a fair and impartial judiciary in New York,” wrote Bert Brandenburg, [...

NY Times: High Court Recusal Policy Needed

Posted on March 16, 2011
Saying questions about the Supreme Court’s impartiality “are too serious to ignore,” a New York Times editorial urges establishment of a recusal policy for the court — and prefers the justices come up with their own plan. The editorial is entitled, “The Court’s Recusal Problem...

Campaign Complaint Against JAS Partners Dismissed

Posted on March 15, 2011
A campaign finance complaint by Clear the Bench Colorado, a group that sought to oust three state Supreme Court justices last year, against the Colorado Bar Association and three allied groups was dismissed by a judge. Clear the Bench contended that the groups it sued had expressly advocated for retaining the justices whose names appeared [...

MN Top Judge Warns Against More Budget Cuts

Posted on March 15, 2011
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdwmELjAtr8 Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea says the public ought to be outraged over the way state courts are hurt by budget cuts. She pointed in an interview to three recent cases where requirements for speedy trials were not met because the judicial system failed to meet a fundamental obligation, according to an [...

Will WI Court Election Become a Proxy Battle?

Posted on March 15, 2011
There’s continuing talk in Wisconsin about turning a nonpartisan state Supreme Court election into a proxy fight over the state’s newly passed collective bargaining law, but a political scientist said little time is left for that to happen...

This Term, Supreme Court not so Predictable

Posted on March 14, 2011
The tendency of some court-watchers to critique the current Supreme Court as pro-corporation and conservative gets  a challenge in an update on its recent rulings. A Los Angeles Times article reports: “The justices have been unanimous, or nearly so, in dealing defeats to employers and to corporations...

NV Justices Weigh Change to Campaign Limits

Posted on March 14, 2011
Will Nevada voters soon witness a political slugfest in judicial elections? That’s the suggestion of a headline for a Las Vegas Review-Journal article. “Judges say they favor being able to take gloves off during elections,” the headline declares...

Editorial: How to Deter ?Buying Justice?

Posted on March 14, 2011
A new rule aimed at removing the influence of campaign cash from courtrooms in New York State makes sense but may be limited in its impact, a Chicago Tribune editorial contends. The editorial is entitled “Buying justice,” and it states upfront, “Big money has been going into judicial races across the country, and for obvious [...

Monday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 14, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: A commentary by Palm Beach Post editorial page editor Randy Schultz slams a legislative proposal to expand from seven to 10 the Florida Supreme Court and to divide it into two panels. The proposal amounts to “court-packing, FDR-style, from self-styled conservatives,” Schultz writes, and is aimed [...

In Plea for Supreme Standards, Caperton Cited

Posted on March 14, 2011
In arguing for new ethics standards for Supreme Court justices, an activist cites the court’s landmark Caperton v. Massey ruling from 2009. Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, writes in a Washington Post op-ed: “The Supreme Court, whose members are shielded with lifetime appointments, is the only entity in our government that is [...

Senior Judges Help ?Rescue? Ninth Circuit

Posted on March 14, 2011
You can see a human face of the federal judgeship vacancy crisis in a photo of senior Judge Betty Fletcher, a snowy white-haired Washington state native who on the verge of her 88th birthday is hard at work, seven days a week. Judge Fletcher (photo) loves her work, wants to pitch in during a time [...

Interest Rising in WI Court Election?

Posted on March 12, 2011
The Wisconsin legislature’s brawl over collective bargaining rights appears to be sparking heightened interest in the April 5 election for state Supreme Court. Incumbent Justice David Prosser, a former Republican Assembly speaker, is challenged by lawyer JoAnne Kloppenburg, a little-known candidate and assistant attorney general...

FL Editorial: Enough Special Interest Cash, Already

Posted on March 11, 2011
Florida legislators ought to steer clear of a proposal by the state’s Republican House speaker that would make it easier to dump judges from the bench, an Orlando Sentinel editorial says. Among other reasons, the editorial explains, is the pressure that would follow for judges to seek special interest cash in their campaigns: “Governors would [...

Friday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 11, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Political accusations flared in a forum attended by Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and his challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg. She accused him of favoring the agenda of Republican Gov...

Nominations Holdup Sends Some RI Cases Elsewhere

Posted on March 11, 2011
More than two dozen civil cases have been shipped from federal court in Rhode Island to Massachusetts and New Hampshire, because a four-year judicial vacancy in Rhode Island has caused a backlog of cases. Chief Judge Mary M. Lsi of Rhode Island told the Associated Press that partisan squabbling in the U...

On Late Night TV, Recusal Issue Recapped

Posted on March 11, 2011
It’s not often that the issue of judicial recusal pops up on late-night TV. But the ethics attacks launched on several Supreme Court justices (see Gavel Grab) appear to have changed that. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert recently spotlighted an effort by Rep...

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 10, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: The office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the Tucson shooting spree, urged President Obama to appoint three judges to fill vacancies in the U.S. District Court in Arizona, the Arizona Daily Star reported...

States Chipping Away at Merit Selection?

Posted on March 10, 2011
Attacks on merit selection of judges have advanced in legislatures in Oklahoma and Arizona. Nationwide, merit selection is getting an unusual level of attention in state capitols. In Oklahoma, the state Senate passed a resolution that would eliminate the Judicial Nominating Commission, which recommends candidates for the bench to the governor...

Cole Bombing Suspect Facing Next Gitmo Trial?

Posted on March 09, 2011
The first detainee who is expected to be charged before a military tribunal at Guantanamo during the Obama administration  is Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, the accused mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in a Yemen port. Because Nashiri has alleged torture and mistreatment at the hands of his captors, his [...

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