Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is threatening to veto legislation that fails to open the state’s judicial selection commission to the public. The Knoxville News has the story. Bredesen says he wants closed door meetings thrown open to the public. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey wants to reduce the power of lawyers in picking judges.

State Rep. Stacey Campfield has the argument down in this blog post. Money quote:

I still wonder how people can support anything but sending it back to the people to pick who they want from an open field of candidates. In my mind, the yes/no retention vote is an abomination.

It may have been judged “legal” but I doubt that that system is anything close to what our state’s founding fathers had in mind when they said, “The judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected by the qualified voters of the state.”