Category Archives: judicial elections

“Secret Money Floods Judicial Elections”

September 28, 2016, 8:01 amcampaign finance, judicial electionsRick Hasen

TAP: John Paul Stevens called it right. Dissenting in 2010 from the Supreme Court’s notorious Citizens United ruling to overturn limits on big spending in campaigns, the now-retired Supreme Court justice warned that the decision’s toxic implications would extend… Continue reading

Full Court Press to Get #SCOTUS to Take Up WI #JohnDoe Case (As It Should)

September 25, 2016, 11:34 amcampaign finance, campaigns, judicial elections, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Lincoln Caplan in the New Yorker. Billy Corriher at Think Progress.

“Editorial: The ethical collapse of Justices Michael Gableman and David Prosser”

September 22, 2016, 7:43 amcampaign finance, chicanery, judicial electionsRick Hasen

Cap Times: Four years after Walker’s email declared that Johnson and the Wisconsin Club for Growth were vital to electing Prosser and Gableman, these two justices cast decisive votes in a state Supreme Court decision that shut down an investigation… Continue reading

“NC Supreme Court election could change ideological tilt”

September 18, 2016, 8:47 pmjudicial elections, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

News and Observer: It was not until May that it became clear Edmunds would face any challengers in his campaign to keep his seat. In 2015, the Republican-led General Assembly passed a law that changed how sitting justices could be… Continue reading

“U.S. Supreme Court could announce Wisconsin John Doe decision in October”

September 14, 2016, 9:32 pmcampaign finance, chicanery, judicial elections, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

The Cap Times reports.

“Lawyers’ Committee Files Federal Voting Rights Lawsuit Challenging Discriminatory Method of Electing Judges to Highest Courts in State of Alabama”

September 7, 2016, 8:54 amjudicial elections, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and four individual black voters alleging that the method of electing Alabama’s most powerful judges… Continue reading

“State’s chief justice won’t contest moving on to general election with opponent”

August 29, 2016, 8:59 amjudicial electionsRick Hasen

Tacoma News Tribune: For a time, Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Madsen thought her runaway lead over two opponents in the August primary election might send her unopposed into the general election. She was unsure in early … Continue reading

6th Cir., in Thoughtful J. Sutton Opinion, Upholds Ban on Endorsements by Judicial Candidates

August 24, 2016, 9:23 amcampaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

This strikes me as an exceptionally thoughtful opinion, upholding some judicial campaign regulations and striking down others. It also shows how the Supreme Court’s Williams-Yulee decision has changed the calculus on which judicial campaign regulations can survive First Amendment attack.… Continue reading

“Dark money group seeks investigation of Kansas Supreme Court justice”

August 23, 2016, 8:47 pmcampaign finance, judicial elections, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

Bryan Lowry for the Wichita Eagle: A national dark money group has revived a 2-year-old controversy involving a Kansas Supreme Court justice and filed an ethics complaint with the state’s Commission on Judicial Qualifications. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic… Continue reading

CAC Files Amicus Brief Supporting Supreme Court Review in WI John Doe Case

August 18, 2016, 11:46 amconflict of interest laws, judicial elections, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The brief focuses on the judicial recusal rules.

“Wisconsin attorney general asks US Supreme Court not to hear John Doe appeal”

August 16, 2016, 7:12 amcampaign finance, chicanery, judicial elections, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Matt DeFour reports.

“The Real Reason Why Judges Should Keep Quiet About Elections; The restrictions remind judges to aspire to be apolitical.”

July 19, 2016, 10:01 amjudicial elections, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Dahlia Lithwick and I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Late last week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tried to put the controversy over her recent criticisms of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump behind her, issuing… Continue reading

“New Report Finds State Court Judges Tend to Decide Election Cases Based on Partisan Loyalty”

July 13, 2016, 10:33 amcampaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

ACS release: A new study by independent researchers at Emory Law School finds that the upward spiral of big money fundraising and aggressive politics in state judicial elections pressures judges to become partisan actors who favor their own party in… Continue reading

Montana False Campaign Speech Rules Allowed to Stand

June 29, 2016, 6:25 amjudicial electionsDan Tokaji

A federal district court has denied an injunction against Montana rules restricting false statements by and about judicial candidates (Myers v. Thompson).