Litigation

Embattled IL Justice to be Court?s Chief

Posted on September 16, 2010
Justice Thomas Kilbride of the Illinois Supreme Court will be elevated to chief justice shortly before the November retention election that determines his future. The state Supreme Court today elected Justice Kilbride to serve as chief justice starting Oct...

Editorial: A ?Recipe for Corruption? in Alabama

Posted on September 16, 2010
The Birmingham News editorial board has firmly embraced a Justice at Stake-commissioned poll showing that solid bipartisan majorities believe elected judges deliver favored treatment to their campaign backers. The board urged a switch in Alabama to a system of appointment and retention (up-or-down) elections in an editorial with this self-explanatory headline: “OUR VIEW: It’s no [...

Breyer Ponders Koran-Burning and Free Speech

Posted on September 16, 2010
Justice Stephen Breyer is getting out in public to promote his new book, “Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View,” and one TV interview confronted him with some dicey questions about burning the Koran. In an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulos, Justice Breyer was asked, “When you think about the Internet, [...

OK to Fill KS High Court Vacancy, Judge Rules

Posted on September 15, 2010
Kansas can move forward to fill a vacancy on its state Supreme Court, a federal judge ruled in a lawsuit challenging the way Kansas selects its justices. District Judge Monti Belot rejected a request for an injunction against lawyer members of a nominating commission that recommends candidates for appointment by the governor, according to an [...

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On Crime, Punishment, and Judicial Campaigns

Posted on September 15, 2010
Is judicial independence in America “endangered” by big-spending judicial elections? That’s the warning sounded by DePaul University law professor Andrea Lyon in a Huffington Post commentary that cites as evidence a recent report co-authored by the Justice at Stake Campaign and entitled “?The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009: Decade of Change...

After Long Stall, Senate Handily Confirms Judge

Posted on September 15, 2010
The Senate has confirmed lawyer Jane Stranch of Nashville for a seat on the Sixth U.S. Circuit of Appeals. Her nomination won a 71-21 vote, although the vote had been delayed for months. Although both of her Republican home-state senators supported her, The Tennessean reported that politics was paramount in stalling the confirmation of Stranch...

TV Pilot Project Approved for Federal Civil Trials

Posted on September 15, 2010
The Judicial Conference, which sets policy for the federal judiciary, has agreed to a pilot project that could bring about televising of some civil trials. At the same time, the Arkansas Supreme Court announced it would launch live streaming of the video of oral arguments to the court’s website...

First TV Ad Launched in IA Ouster Drive

Posted on September 14, 2010
A group seeking to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices in nationally watched retention elections this fall has launched its first TV ad. The group, Iowa for Freedom, is upset about the high court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Iowa...

OH Election: Reform Proposals Aired

Posted on September 14, 2010
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor, campaigning for the position of chief justice, has proposed judicial election reforms including the elimination of partisan primary elections and required reporting of campaign solicitations. Justice O’Connor, a Republican, termed it “peculiar” for judicial candidates to campaign in partisan primaries, only to discard political labels in the general election, [...

Business Support Rising for NV Ballot Measure

Posted on September 14, 2010
Support is rising in Nevada’s business community for changing the way judges are selected in the state. In addition to the State Bar of Nevada, the Chambers of Commerce of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas have endorsed a proposal for judicial appointments that will come before voters in November, the Las Vegas Business Press [...

Obama Resubmits Embattled Nominees

Posted on September 14, 2010
Try, try, try again. The White House has nominated for the third time former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis L. Butler Jr.  for a federal district judgeship in Wisconsin, according to a Wisconsin State Journal article. The nomination had lapsed twice in the face of Republican opposition (see Gavel Grab)...

Gays-in-Military Ruling Puts Judge in Limelight

Posted on September 13, 2010
A New York Times article profiled her as a “woman in the news,” but federal Judge Virginia Phillips of California said she never expected a recent opinion she wrote to thrust her into a national spotlight. “I did not expect it to get as much attention as it did,” Judge Phillips (photo courtesy of Riverside [...

AL Article Cites Majorities for Election Reform, JAS

Posted on September 13, 2010
“We’re No. 1,” the Alabama State Bar president, Alyce Spruell, says about a distinction she wishes her state did not have: It’s the most expensive state for elections to the state Supreme Court. “We’re No. 1 in a category in which we should not be No...

Huge Outside Spending Gap in Wake of ?Citizens United?

Posted on September 13, 2010
There’s a lopsided gap between the outside spending for TV ads by groups supporting Republicans, versus those backing Democrats, in congressional races so far this fall. And driving the imbalance, a New York Times article reports, are GOP-oriented groups that were set up to be able to take contributions of unlimited sums while not having [...

Judicial Ads Now Available by YouTube

Posted on September 13, 2010
For those interested in our courts and judicial election politics, there’s a new YouTube channel that was set up to collect all online ads and other campaign video postings. The National Center for State Courts created the new channel, which is available by clicking here...

Dueling Statements in IA Ouster Campaign

Posted on September 13, 2010
Shortly after Iowa’s chief justice defended the state’s court system, a leading advocate for ousting three state Supreme Court justices in retention elections fired back. Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats said Iowa’s merit selection system for selecting judges provides for a retention (up-or-down) election that is not intended as a rubber stamp, according [...

AJP Attack Widening, Washington Post Reports

Posted on September 13, 2010
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 [...

Porteous Impeachment Trial Begins

Posted on September 13, 2010
A rare impeachment trial of a sitting federal judge, G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana, opened in the U.S. Senate today. House members who are serving as prosecutors portrayed Judge Porteous as corrupt and guilty of a decades-long pattern of unethical behavior, the Associated Press reported...

Chief Justice Roberts ?Invisible??

Posted on September 13, 2010
The upcoming fifth anniversary of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s’ first taking his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court has prompted veteran court-watcher Linda Greenhouse to offer an unconventional analysis. In an Opinionator blog piece in the New York Times headlined, “An Invisible Chief Justice,” the former Supreme Court correspondent recalls her expectation when [...

Appeals Court: Regulating Immigrants is Federal Domain

Posted on September 10, 2010
Regulating immigrants is “clearly within the exclusive domain of the federal government,” a federal appeals court said in ruling that Hazleton, Pa. may not enforce its crackdown on illegal immigrants. “It is … not our job to sit in judgment of whether state and local frustration about federal immigration policy is warranted...

?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? is Ruled Unconstitutional

Posted on September 10, 2010
A federal district judge in California has struck down as unconstitutional the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward its gay members. ?The ‘don?t ask, don?t tell’ act infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways,? wrote Judge Virginia A...

First Latina, Openly Gay Justice Named in CO

Posted on September 10, 2010
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, has named Monica Marquez to the state Supreme Court. She will become its first Latina and openly gay justice. Currently deputy attorney general, Marquez has not served as a judge, according to a Denver Post article...

Group Presses for Reform in Choosing NV Judges

Posted on September 10, 2010
A group pressing for merit-based selection of judges in Nevada is stepping up its campaign for voters to approve a November ballot question. Irwin Molasky of Nevadans for Qualified Judges acknowledged it’s hard for citizens to surrender their vote to pick judges, but the public would have more clout to weed out inadequate judges through [...

NY Times Editorial Commends ?New Politics? Report

Posted on September 10, 2010
A New York Times editorial has sounded an urgent call for basic reforms to state judicial elections, while commending the Justice at Stake Campaign and its co-authors of a report that spotlights soaring election spending. The editorial is headlined “Fair Courts at Risk...

Bopp Lawsuit Challenges New IA Disclosure Law

Posted on September 09, 2010
Iowa Right to Life, Inc. has sued in federal court to challenge Iowa’s new law with disclosure requirements for corporate spending on political advertising. Iowa was one of the first states to pass such a law in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling...

Justice O?Connor Active, a ?Debate-Changer?

Posted on September 09, 2010
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, jetting around the nation to speak about the importance of merit selection of judges and of civics education, has become “the most active retired justice in decades.” That’s the assessment of an intriguing profile in USA Today...

Polarization in Hiring Supreme Court Clerks?

Posted on September 09, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ideological divide may also be reflected in a recent pattern: A significant divide in the hiring of justice’s law clerks, the New York Times reports. It has become more common for conservative justices to hire clerks who worked earlier for judges chosen by Republicans, and for more liberal justices to employ [...

Editorial: On Confirmations, ?Stop the Shenanigans?

Posted on September 09, 2010
Another major national newspaper has urged action to set aside politics-as-usual and fill a growing backlog of federal judicial vacancies. The Washington Post editorial stated: “The shenanigans should stop. Presidents have earned the right to see well-qualified nominees confirmed in an expeditious manner...

Impeachment Trial to Start in Senate

Posted on September 09, 2010
For the first time since 1989, the impeachment trial of a federal judge will begin in the Senate next week. Judge G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana, who has been suspended from the bench, stands accused of accepting cash improperly and of lying during his confirmation proceedings before the Senate...

IL Justice: ?We Aren?t Legislators in Robes?

Posted on September 08, 2010
A veteran Illinois Supreme Court justice has been targeted for removal in a retention (up-or-down) election this year by a deep-pocketed group representing business interests. The effort to deny re-election to Justice Thomas Kilbride smacks of greater politicization of judicial elections, some observers say...

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