Litigation

Is Action Ahead on Judicial Nominations?

Posted on November 12, 2010
Will the Senate take up a backlog of judicial nominations when it returns for a lame-duck session next week? In a Huffington Post commentary, Judith E. Schaeffer, vice president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, argues that it should do so...

First Transgender Trial Judge Elected in CA

Posted on November 12, 2010
Victoria  Kolakowski became the first transgender trial judge in the nation when she won election last week in Alameda County, California, according to an Oakland Tribune article. Kolakowski sought in her campaign to “bring diversity to the bench through her experience being transgender and her background as an attorney focusing on civil matters through her [...

Alito: Role at Conservative Fundraiser ?Not Important?

Posted on November 11, 2010
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was among attendees toasting the keynote speaker at an annual fundraising event held by the conservative American Spectator magazine, according to a liberal blog account. The Think Progress blog said the event featured such prominent Republicans as Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele...

Shattering ?Myths About Electing Judges?

Posted on November 11, 2010
With debate warming up over the way judges are selected, one expert says it’s time to “puncture” three myths about the election of judges to the bench. Meryl Chertoff, director of The Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society Program, defines and attacks the “myths” in a Huffington Post commentary...

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Caperton Lawsuit: ?Abuse of Justice??

Posted on November 11, 2010
Hugh Caperton’s newly filed lawsuit against Massey Energy (see Gavel Grab) is drawing further news media coverage, from business journals to home-state press. The coverage has drawn attention once again to questions raised by Caperton about whether the West Virginia Supreme Court delivered impartial justice...

MA Nominee for Chief Justice Would Make History

Posted on November 11, 2010
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has nominated Justice Roderick L. Ireland to be chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. If confirmed, Justice Ireland would be the state’s first African American chief justice. Justice Ireland first was picked for the high court by then-Gov...

Decision ?Close? on Terror Trial Venue

Posted on November 11, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVq7z5wVdlU The Obama administration will announce soon a decision on the venue for trying accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four co-defendants, Attorney General Eric Holder said. Holder announced last year the defendants would be tried in federal court in New York City, but that idea ignited deep opposition, and the administration later signaled [...

No Let-Up in Debate Over IA Ousters

Posted on November 10, 2010
More than a week after Election Day, there’s no let-up in the soul-searching and debate over the most notable judicial election results. In Time, Adam Cohen wrote the following about Iowa, where three state Supreme Court justices were ousted in a retention election after an organized campaign assailed their votes to permit same-sex marriage: “The [...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on November 10, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: In at least one respect — strong voter turnout — an instant runoff experiment in a North Carolina appeals court election succeeded, a Winston-Salem Journal editorial said. Women will hold a majority of four out of seven seats on the North Carolina Supreme Court for the [...

Backlog of Judicial Nominations Eyed

Posted on November 10, 2010
Senate Republicans, their clout increased by the gain of six seats on Election Day,  will have more muscle to flex if they oppose or stall President Obama’s pending nominees for federal judgeships. That’s the analysis of writer Ann Woolner in a Bloomberg commentary, entitled “Republican Activists in Congress Choke Courts...

Dismissal of Reprimand for TX Judge Stands

Posted on November 10, 2010
A special three-judge panel said it won’t reconsider its decision to dismiss a reprimand against Judge Sharon Keller, the top criminal court jurist in Texas, according to an Associated Press article. The panel had ruled earlier (see Gavel Grab) that the reprimand, called a public warning, was not an option that was legally available to [...

Massey Calls New Caperton Suit ?Meritless?

Posted on November 10, 2010
Hugh Caperton’s latest round of litigation against old nemesis Don Blankenship and Massey Energy Co., the topic of a Gavel Grab post a day ago, gets full-length feature treatment in The New York Times today. Massey Energy’s response to the new lawsuit, filed in Virginia by Caperton (in photo): It had not seen the lawsuit, [...

Caperton Sues Massey, Again

Posted on November 09, 2010
Is there another round of Caperton v. Massey litigation ahead? That appears to be the case. This sequel involves primarily a business dispute between Hugh Caperton and Massey Coal Co., and not the issue of a judge disqualifying himself from a case involving a major political backer, as did the landmark U...

As WA Votes are Counted, Nasty Campaign Talk

Posted on November 09, 2010
It’s almost neck and neck as the votes are counted in a close contest for a seat on the Washington Supreme Court. And at least one side is using fiery language about the other. The campaign of incumbent Justice Richard Sanders wrote an email about challenger Charlie Wiggins, a Bainbridge Island attorney, headlined “Don’t Let [...

NY Times: Time to ?Scrap Judicial Elections?

Posted on November 09, 2010
The 2010 judicial elections, “awash in cash and blaring attack ads,” argue persuasively for ending the election of judges to the bench, a New York Times editorial declared today. The editorial, entitled “A Blow to the Courts,” cited Election Day outcomes in Iowa and Illinois as among the most troubling...

JAS Cited in Election 2010 Coverage

Posted on November 08, 2010
The Justice at Stake Campaign continues to make news as it helps reporters across the country understand and put in  perspective the results of the most recent judicial elections. JAS spokesman Charles Hall was quoted in an Associated Press article that was entitled, “Removal of Iowa justices may inspire other conservative groups to strike back [...

Winner in MI Race Pens Guest Column

Posted on November 08, 2010
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young, reelected in a tough and high-spending campaign, said in a post-election commentary he was honored to get another term “with the task of restoring the rule of law to Michigan.” Justice Young’s commentary was published in The Michigan View, an online site that is a service of The Detroit [...

Iowa Ouster Vote: ?A Perfect Storm??

Posted on November 08, 2010
Iowans’ vote to oust three state Supreme Court justices over a ruling that permitted same-sex marriage has stunned many defenders of an independent judiciary. But just how often are Supreme Court justices dumped in retention elections? Not often at all, according to a Des Moines Register article that provides some intriguing context for the historic [...

Post Editorial: ?End Judicial Elections Now?

Posted on November 05, 2010
Voters saw TV ads costing millions of dollars, some of it ugly and false. And voters dumped three Iowa judges from the bench over a single unanimous and controversial ruling. Election 2010 showed that these politicized elections  don’t work and should be ended, a Washington Post editorial said today in calling for a shift to [...

Election Articles Cite Justice at Stake

Posted on November 05, 2010
Election 2010 is over, but research and analysis from the Justice at Stake Campaign on judicial campaign spending still is informing widespread news coverage. An ABA Journal article about this year’s contentious retention elections relied on Justice at Stake for the fact that spending in these contests reached $4...

Election to Impact Judicial Nominations?

Posted on November 05, 2010
Several weeks preceding Election Day, President Obama asked the Senate to step up confirmation of judicial nominees and avert “a crisis in the judiciary” (see Gavel Grab). Now that Senate Republicans will add to their numbers in the Senate come January, the Democrats’ smaller majority “puts in doubt the confirmation prospects of various nominees who [...

How Will IA Ouster Affect our Courts?

Posted on November 05, 2010
A  post-Election Day debate is raging over what the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices will mean for our courts. “It just illustrated something that has been troubling many of us for many, many years,” California Chief Justice Ronald M...

Election 2010: More Results are Reported

Posted on November 04, 2010
In a fast-paced week, Gavel Grab still is catching up on these judicial elections returns: In Minnesota, Supreme Court Justices Helen Meyer and Alan Page cruised to new terms. Greg Wersal and Tim Tingelstad, respectively, were defeated, according to a Minneapolis Star Tribune article...

Lawsuit Over KS Supreme Court Rejected

Posted on November 04, 2010
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot threw out Wednesday a federal lawsuit challenging the way state Supreme Court justices are selected under Kansas? merit-based selection system. He wrote: ?It is not this court?s job to weigh in on the debate except to point out that Kansas voters approved the present system and the absence of evidence [...

After IA Vote, Scrutiny for Merit Selection

Posted on November 04, 2010
Iowans’ vote on Tuesday to oust three of their Supreme Court justices over a same-sex marriage ruling is bringing scrutiny to the state’s merit-based system for selecting judges. (Booted were Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices Michael Streit and David Baker...

Election 2010: IA Justices Out; Kilbride In

Posted on November 03, 2010
Voters booted three Iowa Supreme Court justices in a retention election yesterday, after social conservatives and national groups mounted an ouster drive over a unanimous court decision permitting same-sex marriage. The outcome was a historic upset, according to a Des Moines Register article...

Iowa: Historic Vote Removes Three Justices

Posted on November 03, 2010
Iowa voters swept three justices off the state Supreme Court as they showed  ire over a unanimous high court ruling that permitted same-sex marriage. The retention election was watched nationally. “The decision is expected to echo to courts throughout the country, as conservative activists had hoped,” the Des Moines Register reported...

MI Justice Young: ?I?m Still Standing?

Posted on November 03, 2010
A campaign slugfest returned the Michigan Supreme Court to Republicans with the defeat Tuesday of Justice Alton Davis and election of Justice Robert Young and Judge Mary Beth Kelley. In other states’ contested elections, a woman will hold the title of Ohio chief justice for the first time; and a Republican justice calling himself a [...

IL Justice Kilbride Survives Retention Vote

Posted on November 03, 2010
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...

Nevada: A Vote Against Merit Selection

Posted on November 03, 2010
Nevada voters will continue to select state Supreme Court justices and district judges by contested elections, after rejecting on Election Day a ballot initiative for merit-based selection of these judges. The measure was rejected by more than 57 percent of voters who cast a ballot, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal article...

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