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‘Potential for Mischief’ in Big-Money Judicial Elections
There is a huge “potential for mischief,” and public confidence is eroded when state Supreme Court justices have to raise big money to get or keep their jobs, a Mississippi newspaper editorial warns.
The editorial in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger chiefly tackles the topic of past tort reform, and how an appeal before the state Supreme Court will test them. But the editorial also drives home a point about judicial elections in Mississippi:
“When Supreme Court justices must raise as much as $1 million to win election or re-election and most of the money comes either from trial lawyers or from the business/medical community, the potential for judicial mischief runs high and public confidence low.
“Electing appellate judges is an antiquated, outdated proposition. Both sides – plaintiffs’ attorneys and the business/medical community – have too much riding on the outcome of cases not to spend big bucks on these campaigns.”
To learn more about the threat of huge special interest money in judicial elections, see Justice at Stake’s issues page on the topic.
No commentsWednesday Media Summary
NOMINATION REPORTING
Blog Of Legal Times: Kagan Hearing Set to Begin June 28
David Ingram – 5/19/2010
KAGAN COMMENTARY
Politico: Elena Kagan’s thesis hints at her views
JOSH GERSTEIN – 5/19/2010
Reuters: Supreme Court nominee Kagan is a millionaire
Thomas Ferraro and James Vicini – 5/18/2010
Heritage Foundation: Elena Kagan: Justice Stevens Redux?
Charles Stimson – 5/18/2010
Wednesday Media Summary
SUPREME COURT NOMINATION REPORTING
Houston Chronicle/AP: Obama interviews Diane Wood for Supreme Court
Ben Feller – 5/4/2010
SUPREME COURT NOMINATION COMMENTARY
CNN: High court contender Kagan brings reputation for consensus-building
Bill Mears – 5/4/2010
CNN: Chicago judge’s record rates highly among progressives, colleagues
Bill Mears – 5/4/2010
Eagle Forum/Court Watch: Be Ready for Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee!
5/4/2010
SUPREME COURT NOMINATION/POLITICS
Washington Post: Liberals fear Obama nominates moderate to court
JESSE J. HOLLAND – 5/4/2010
NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS
Read more…
MS Commentary Cites JAS, Urges Election Reform
The national momentum for reform in how we elect judges continues to build. One week, a legislature votes. Another week, a column or editorial forcefully advocates reform based on what states have done, or on new data about election spending. The latter was the case this week in Mississippi.
David Hampton, editorial director of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, challenged in a column both the idea of electing judges and the way it has been practiced, and he concluded that reform is imperative. Hampton predicated part of his concern on data from Justice at Stake showing a startling increase in fundraising for judicial elections in states.
On the idea of electing judges, he wrote: “[T]he idea of judges raising money, backslapping and asking anyone for a vote is contrary to what the system of justice should be. A judge should not be elected by political popularity. A judge should have no constituency but the law.”
On how elections play out, he wrote: “[J]udicial elections are political and are becoming more special-interest and big- money driven every year…There is creeping influence, starting with Supreme Court posts, in which special interests are knee-deep into Mississippi judicial races.”
Hampton touched on public financing of judicial elections as one idea getting traction in some states, and on appointive and retention (up-or-down) election systems in other states; he concluded by voicing aloud a fear that special-interest influence only will get worse, saying that reform in Mississippi is needed now.
To learn more about public financing, see Gavel Grab and a Justice at Stake issues page on the topic; for more about appointive and retention systems, check out a different JAS issues page.
No commentsFriday Media Summary
JUSTICE AT STAKE
Justice At Stake: New West Va. Law Shows ‘National Momentum’ for
Court-Election Reforms
3/25/2010
NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS
Washington Post: Bin Laden threatens to kill Americans if Khalid
Sheik Mohammed is executed
Greg Miller – 3/26/2010
Forbes/AP: Bin Laden threatens US over alleged 9/11 plotter
SARAH EL DEEB – 3/25/2010
Miami Herald: New war-court chief may mean more tribunals at
Guantánamo
CAROL ROSENBERG – 3/25/2010
Jurist/Paper Chase: Federal judge rules US may continue holding
Yemeni Guantanamo detainee
Ximena Marinero – 3/25/2010
Forbes/AP: US to appeal release order for Guantanamo detainee
3/25/2010
AP: NY judge: CIA can keep secrets despite ACLU demand
3/25/2010
Reporters Committee For Freedom Of The Press: Federal judge again
denies ACLU request for torture documents
Christine Beckett – 3/25/2010
Washington Post: For two detainees who told what they knew,
Guantanamo becomes a gilded cage
Peter Finn – 3/24/2010
BAGRAM DETAINEES/COURTS
The Atlantic: White House and Military Clash over Bagram
Max Fisher – 3/25/2010
CITIZENS UNITED/CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Washington Post: States try to adapt to Supreme Court’s campaign
finance ruling
Dan Eggen – 3/25/2010
NCSC Issues New ‘Gavel to Gavel’ Report
Gavel to Gavel, National Center for State Court’s weekly summary of legislation affecting the courts, has released its latest edition, according to William Raftery, researcher for NCSC. Stories in this week’s edition include:
- Mississippi considers nonpartisan elections for Justice Court judges, currently the only jurists in the state that have to run in a partisan election.
- Indiana debates whether to require City and Town Court judges be admitted to the bar, a requirement for all other courts in the state.
Read the full PDF report by clicking here.  The National Center also has a searchable database for all Gavel to Gavel legislation.
No commentsMonday Media Summary
CITIZENS UNITED
Politico: The Supreme Court leaves Washington in the lurch KENNETH P. VOGEL – 12/14/2009
GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES COURTS
NBC New York: Former AG Mukasey, Giuliani Blast 9/11 Trial Decision JONATHAN DIENST – 12/11/2009
WISCONSIN RECUSAL
FEDERAL NOMINEES
No commentsBarbour’s First Black Judge Takes Oath
Judge Malcolm Harrison has taken the oath of office as a Hinds County Circuit Court judge in Mississippi. He is the first African-American judge sworn in under Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who had previously compiled a five-year record of appointing only white judges to the bench, according to an article in the Jackson Free Press.
Harrison, formerly a prosecuting attorney, had voiced criticism over the lack of diversity in Barbour’s appointments, the Associated Press noted in a news story.
No commentsBriefs, Part 3: 26 States Cite Need to Regulate Campaign Money
Twenty-six states, led by Montana, elected not to side with either the nonprofit group Citizens United or the Obama Justice Department, but took a plea to the Supreme Court nonetheless.
All of the signing states “recognize the importance of preserving the discretion of state policy-makers to enact campaign finance regulations that may include regulation of corporate electioneering,” their brief said. They asked the high court to resolve the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case without overruling Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
That 1990 decision is one of two important precedents involving corporate spending limits in elections that the Supreme Court has signaled it intends to re-examine.
States filing the brief were Montana, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia.
To read all three Gavel Grab summaries of Citizens United briefs, click here. To see all Gavel Grab postings on the case, click here.
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