Matthew Schneider, a visiting professor at Michigan’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School, has just issued a serious, scholarly analysis of Michigan’s Supreme Court.  Among his conclusions:
… there is broad agreement among conservative legal scholars that Michigan’s highest court has greatly advanced the delicate art of being faithful to the law while, at the same time, […]

Would the National Rifle Association (NRA) endorse a candidate who wanted to “ban hunting” and “take away our rights” to hunt on private property?  Of course not.  But that’s the lie being circulated by Judge Diane Marie Hathaway in her campaign to unseat Michigan Chief Justice Cliff Taylor. (Full disclosure: my wife, Colleen, is managing […]

The West Virginia State Journal takes a long look at yet one more example of the unholy alliance between state Attorneys General and wealthy trial lawyers.  Four years ago, West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw agreed to a $10 million settlement in the state’s lawsuit against the maker of OxyContin – a painkiller so widely […]

Once again, the blogosphere has caught the mainstream media asleep at the switch.  RightMichigan.com does a devastating dissection of the lies being peddled by opponents of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor.  A left wing group has taken out billboard ads on the side of busses across the state claiming that a University of […]

An editorial in Wisconsin’s Capital Times strikes back against the “campaign” launched by another paper, the Wisconsin State Journal, to end democratic judicial elections and adopt a “merit” selection system.  While I disagree with just about everything the Capital Times says about the decision by Wisconsin voters to oust Justice Louis Butler and its call […]

Surprise, surprise. Prime Buzz reports that the Missouri Bar Association has come out against a proposal by gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof to reduce the influence of legal special interest groups (like the Bar Association) in selecting Missouri judges.  Prime Buzz has posted the full text of the Bar Association’s statement.  You can read my previous […]

Proponents of abolishing democratic election of judges always claim that “merit” selection gets politics out of the process.  But Minnesota judicial candidate Dan Griffith gives us a peek into the backroom dealing that goes on when judges are chosen in secret by “merit” panels controlled by lawyers.
There’s a strong correlation between those who actually end […]

West Virginia Democratic State Senator Jeff Kessler has got “merit” selection all figured out:
I’m inclined to believe that election is the best way.  Judicial selection by (merit) committee is still politics – just a narrower group.
But Sen. Kessler, who chairs the state legislature’s Senate Judiciary Committee, is pushing for public financing of judicial races to […]

For about 20 years, a group called Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts (PMC) has been lobbying to abolish democratic judicial elections in the state by revoking the right of 8.3 million Pennsylvania voters to decide who will sit on their courts and turn the job over to a 14-member committee dominated by lawyers.
Proponents of this scheme […]

Yesterday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell came out in favor of state legislation that would help to end democratic judicial elections.  “Our system of electing appellate judges makes no sense at all,” Gov. Rendell said.
So allowing the people to choose who sits on the bench “makes no sense at all?”  This is the same system that […]