In Oklahoma, Fools Rush In…
December 27, 2010
In an op-ed published in The Oklahoman today, I urge OK Governor Brad Henry to stop his rush to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.
In the November elections, nearly two-thirds of state voters (63%) approved reforms to the state judicial nominating commission to give more power to the commission’s nonlawyer members. But the reforms don’t go into effect until early January — so lame-duck Gov. Henry and the lawyers sitting on the current, lame-duck commission are pressing to fill a vacant Supreme Court slot befor the reforms take effect.
Excerpt:
“The whole rush to judgment smacks of the backroom politics voters emphatically rejected in November. Nothing good will come of this.
“By moving forward, the lawyer-dominated lame-duck commission and Henry will ignore the will of the people who said stop and do it right with more nonlawyer input.
“If they proceed to fill the vacancy, the commission and governor will undermine the very integrity of the judicial nominating process the people sought to fix. And, the commission and Henry invite an expensive lawsuit that surely will challenge the constitutional presence of any appointment that comes out of this hasty and questionable process.”
Slow down and do it right, Governor.
The $1 Billion Man?
December 14, 2010
Last month, the Washington Post editorialized that judicial elections should be “discarded” after learning that the apparently astonishing sum of $17 million was spent of television ads in those races. This week, the Post reports that President Obama may raise $1 billion – no, that’s not a typo – in campaign cash to secure his reelection. I’m sure a Post editorial calling for discarding popular elections for president is in the works.
The Case for Tort Reform in Florida
December 10, 2010
Florida businessman John R. Smith makes a compelling case for tort reform in Florida and demonstrates why seizing the state’s civil justice system from Trial Lawyers Inc. is at the top of the agenda for incoming Governor Rick Scott and the new legislature. Money graphs:
“Lawsuit abuse is a threat to our small businesses, where lawsuit costs drive up the price of goods and services, which consumers pay for. Plaintiff lawyers get rich while economic growth declines. Kids can’t play in schoolyards because of the hundreds of claims for playground accidents. Our reputation dissuades many businesses from locating here, and convinces professionals to move away.
“What’s to be done? Well, I’m a fan of reducing the personal injury bar to rubble, then bringing them to a boil.”
Smith quickly concedes that his “shock and awe” plan for Florida trial lawyers isn’t politically correct, so he’ll settle for capping Powerball-sized damage awards, curbing “junk science” in the courtroom, medical liability reform and other reforms to dissuade frivolous lawsuits.
More Backlash Against Lawyer-Picked Judges in Iowa
December 10, 2010
Iowa voters have filed a court challenge to the state’s judicial nominating system, arguing it gives too much power to special interests and denies voters an equal voice in selecting justices for the state Supreme Court. According to attorney James Bopp at the James Madison Center, the current system “guarantees lawyers a far greater say than ordinary citizens in Iowa in selecting judges who have great power and control over the lives of regular citizens.” Bopp, who worked as a legal advisor to Citizens United, is lead counsel for the voters.
Elections Have Consequences: Taking Back our Courts from Trial Lawyers Inc.
December 8, 2010
Newly elected governors in Pennsylvania and Florida are counting on strong Republican majorities in their legislatures to quickly push through meaningful tort reform early next year.
In Pennsylvania, Governor-elect Tom Corbett has called on the GOP majority in both houses to deliver a bill within six months. One key reform: reinstating Pennsylvania’s Fair Share Act, which modified abusive liability rules that allowed plaintiffs’ lawyers to hold a defendant liable for 100 percent of any damage award even if that defendant was only responsible for 1 percent of an injury. Corbett has also called for an end to venue shopping, which allowed trial lawyers to file claims in tort-friendly jurisdictions. Business groups such as the NFIB and Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association are rallying behind the plan.
In Florida, William Large of the Florida Justice Reform Institute says the election of a Republican supermajority has created a “tremendous opportunity” to pass legislation bottled up for years by the state’s trial bar and its former allies in the legislature. One bill likely on the fast track is a common sense measure that would allow a jury to apportion fault among all responsible parties, not just corporate defendants. As Jose Gonzalez of Associated Industries of Florida told one reporter:
“It’s a fairness issue. Right now, a jury [in an auto liability case] only heard about a faulty seat belt or bad roof. They don’t hear that the driver was on 10 different kinds of drugs and ran off the road.”
Elections have consequences – and it seems one message voters sent this November is that it’s time to take back our courts from Trial Lawyers Inc.
Mitch Daniels, “Merit Selection,” and 2012
December 6, 2010
The Iowa Independent has an interesting piece speculating about whether Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ support for “merit” selection could become an issue if he decides to run for president. Several pro-family groups have called on Daniels to push for changes in Indiana’s judicial selection system, given “merit” selection’s penchant for producing activist, left-leaning judges. This is an issue that Bench Memos has written about and been following for the last few months, led by Gary Marx.
Could be an interesting debate in 2012 – stay tuned.
Trial Bar Shifts Focus from Congress to Obama Admin
December 6, 2010
The trial bar has lost its tort-friendly majority in Congress, so Tiger Joyce, head of the invaluable American Tort Reform Association, expects the personal injury lobby to shift its focus to the Obama Administration.
First on the agenda: getting the Obama Treasury Department to create a new loophole in the tax code to encourage speculative lawsuits. Under a scheme being pushed by the national trial bar lobby, U.S. taxpayers would actually underwrite lawsuits by giving contingency fee lawyers the ability to write off the costs of investing in new cases. Cost: $1.6 billion.
“Merit” Selection Proponent Calls for Reining in Special Interest Influence in Iowa Judicial Selection
December 3, 2010
“Intellectual snobs”…“elitists” who are “out of touch with the average people in the state” and don’t understand our government. That’s what a supporter of Iowa’s “merit” selection system says of the Iowa Bar Association, which currently appoints half the members of the judicial star chamber charged with picking Supreme Court justices.
The supporter, a Des Moines attorney and longtime advisor to incoming Governor Terry Branstad, is calling for reforming the system to reduce the influence of special interest groups like the state bar, according to a report in the Iowa Independent. More and more it looks like Iowa’s historic election – in which voters dumped three activist justices – has shaken the foundations of the entire $45 million, George Soros-bankrolled campaign to reshape the judiciary.
Goodbye and Good Riddance Justice Weaver
December 1, 2010
Both the Detroit Free Press and the Livingston Daily rightly applaud the recent censure of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Betty Weaver by her former colleagues on the bench. Weaver concluded her notoriously disgraceful judicial career by retiring early to avoid giving Michigan voters the chance to dump her – but only after negotiating a scandalous deal with the governor to name her own replacement. Weaver also secretly taped private conversations with other justices and then leaked the recordings in a blatant, but unsuccessful attempt to torpedo Justice Robert Young’s re-election bid. Weaver’s departure (and the November elections) cleansed the court not only of her disdainful sideshow antics, but also of an activist majority committed to the trial bar’s agenda. That’s a giant step forward for both judicial dignity and the rule of law in Michigan.
Citizens Rise Up Against Activist Judges
December 1, 2010
Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell cuts through the clutter over the recent defeat of three activist Iowa judges (courtesy of the Detroit News). Sowell demolishes the argument purveyed by the “merit” selection crowd that, in the exercise of their constitutional right to vote judges out of office, Iowa citizens somehow represent a threat to judicial independence:
“Being a judge does not mean being given arbitrary powers to enact the liberal agenda from the bench, which means depriving the citizens of their most basic rights that define a free and self-governing people.”
As Sowell points out:
“These judges had taken it upon themselves to rule that the voters of Iowa did not have the right to block attempts to change the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples. Here again, the particular issue – so-called ‘gay marriage’ – was not as fundamental as the question of depriving the voting public of their right to decide what kinds of laws they want to live under.”
Through all their caterwauling this election season, the “merit” selection crowd revealed to all that their main goal isn’t judicial independence, but Judicial Imperialism – where elites pick judges and ordinary people have no control over the direction of our courts. As for the voters – well, if Justice O’Connor and the $45 million George Soros-bankrolled network have their way, we’re just supposed to shut up and take it.