Litigation

Tennessee Waltz: New Appointment Plans Are Floated

By Charlie Hall

With time running out on Tennessee’s system for nominating appellate and Supreme Court judges, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey (R) has proposed giving  the governor unrestricted power to appoint  judges until at least 2014, but there is no immediate plan underway to choose judges through competitive elections. Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) opposed Ramsey’s plan, saying the state’s current nominating commission should be preserved.

According to this posting by Knoxville News reporter Tom Humphrey, Ramsey-who is considered a strong contender to become Tennessee’s next governor-said his plan would serve as a bridge measure until 2014, when voters could approve  a constitutional amendment in 2014 to create a permanent plan for selecting judges.

In addition, the Tennessee Journal reports that a Republican legislator has submitted a bill that would preserve a nominating commission, which sends slates of three judicial candidates to the governor, but would give lawmakers a freer hand in choosing its members. By law, most of the current 17-member commission must be lawyers. The legislature declined to renew the system last year, initiating a sunset process in which the commission will expire June 30.

In a recent opinion, the state attorney general said there is no legal structure in place for filling judicial vacancies once the current nominating commission expires.  ?If nothing happens, there would be chaos,? Ramsey told the Knoxville News. ?It is not an option to do nothing.?

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 09, 2009 (boomark / email).