Another Kansas City Star article updates the campaign over the ballot initiative in bellwether Johnson County to scrap “merit” selection and restore democratic judicial elections. As it stands today, a 14-member commission dominated by lawyers screens applicants and sends a list of three hand-picked nominees to the governor, who is required by law to select […]
A Minneapolis Star Tribune article has a good update on the upcoming judicial races in Minnesota.
Judicial candidates have found many innovative ways to inform voters about the judicial philosophies – including YouTube videos – without compromising their independence. The Star Tribune reports that judicial campaigns this year are mostly “low-cost, low-key and low-profile affairs.” Kind […]
A Springfield, MO News-Leader article has an update on efforts by a group of Greene County, MO citizens to fight back against a November ballot initiative that would revoke their right to vote for local judges. The initiative – “Question 1” – would abolish democratic judicial elections and turn the job of selecting judges over […]
The Grand Rapids Press has a strong editorial endorsing the re-election of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor. (full disclosure: my wife, Colleen, is managing Chief Justice Taylor’s campaign). Some highlights:
Chief Justice Clifford Taylor has brought a sharp legal mind and just as sharp an accountant’s pencil to his work on the Michigan Supreme […]
Be careful what you poll for, you just might have to publicize it.
The American Bar Association has lately been pushing a proposal to allow a disinterested, non-partisan professional organization to run a “merit selection” board that would essentially fulfill the Constitutional responsibility of the President of the United States in naming judges. What is the […]
The Seattle Weekly – the alternative weekly paper in Seattle, WA, owned by Village Voice media – recently published a long cover story, “The Way We Elect Judges Is A Sham,” by Damon Agnos. It’s a very long piece that basically makes the refreshing argument that judicial candidates should engage in robust debate in judicial […]
As Election Day approaches in Kansas, legal elites are lining up in opposition to a ballot initiative that would restore democratic judicial elections in bellwether Johnson County. In today’s Kansas City Star, president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Gregory Bentz urges voters to maintain the current “merit” selection system – where a committee […]
Last week a Wisconsin assistant district attorney, Tim Kiefer, had a piece in The Capital Times that he claims debunks three myths about the “merit” selection system he favors over democratic judicial elections. Let’s take a look at these myths and his “debunks.”
Myth #1: Mr. Kiefer suggests that “merit” selection won’t favor political insiders because […]
Minnesota Lawyer posts videos from two candidates for Minnesota Supreme Court: incumbent Lorie Skjerven Gildea and challenger Deborah Hedlund. Both show serious, thoughtful candidates who are fully capable of discussing their qualifications in a dignified manner that is fully accessible to every fair-minded Minnesota voter. Is this the type of nasty judicial campaigning that would […]
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt came out against a ballot initiative to end democratic judicial elections in Greene County and turn the job of picking judges over to a small, unelected, unaccountable commission controlled by legal special interest groups. In an interview with Springfield, MO NBC affiliate KY3 News, Gov. Blunt made the common sense observation […]
