Is a “growing tide of campaign cash” being raised in judicial elections “threatening the impartiality of our courts”? So says Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer in a letter posted on Justice at Stake’s blog, Gavel Grab. But the only evidence Chief Justice Moyer cites is a poll (funded by Justice at Stake) which […]
Tiger Joyce, head of the invaluable American Tort Reform Association, calls on Congress to investigate ethical misconduct by trial lawyers in securities fraud litigation. Recently, trial bar kingpins Bill Lerach and Melvyn Weiss were convicted of funneling kickbacks to plaintiff front-men in securities suits.
Two Indiana judicial candidates had to file suit last Friday to block a gag order that prohibits them from speaking about their judicial philosophies to Indiana voters. No one wants judicial candidates running around stating how they’d vote on a particular case. But don’t voters have the right to know what philosophy they […]
Comments continue on the decision by Wisconsin voters to oust liberal activist Louis Butler from the state Supreme Court.
In an oped last week, Maureen Martin of the Heartland Institute points out that Butler’s appointment to the court came only after he lost his own bid for election by nearly 2:1. As a […]
The Daily Report publishes this editorial letter by Shannon Goessling of the Southeastern Legal Foundation in Monday’s edition, now available online. Goessling argues that despite all the judicial selection reforms under consideration in Georgia, the best option is to stick with free, fair open judicial elections. Here’s an excerpt:
“With the advent of open, […]
Earlier this week, I linked to a great opinion piece by a Tennessee lawyer laying out the case against that state’s so-called “merit selection” scheme.
Here’s another great argument against the “lawyers choose, voters lose” plan — from Judge Dale Workman of Tennessee who has observed the closed-door secret selection process first hand.
“Merit selection” proponents like […]
In today’s Nashville City Paper, Gov. Phil Bredesen pushes back against Tennessee legislators who believe state judges need to be selected behind closed doors.
“I know it might be uncomfortable for a judge from now and then to have some incident in their past talked over, but, ya know, gosh, that’s the way of things in […]
The Missouri House voted yesterday to keep intact the state’s judicial selection Star Chamber – where lawyers meet behind closed doors to pick judges.
That means – at least for now – judicial selection in Missouri will remain in the hands of the state’s trial bar. Of the seven members of Missouri’s Appellate Judicial Commission, […]
Great little letter in the Wall Street Journal today about the decision of Wisconsin voters to throw out trial-lawyer supported justice on the state Supreme Court recently. Here’s an excerpt:
My oldest son turned 18 last year and was excited to be able to vote in his first election. His question to me was, “Who […]
The National Association of Manufacturers’ Shopfloor.org blog exposes the junk science being peddled by the trial bar in its ongoing pursuit of Merck.
