Lots of talk of campaign finance. … Continue reading
Category Archives: judicial elections
Read the opinion (via CNO). I think the part about the unconstitutionality of regulating truthful but misleading speech is surely right. But this opinion is also significant in saying it is constitutional to sanction a judicial candidate for falsely claiming … Continue reading
Howard has the brief and a related news story. … Continue reading
Columbus Dispatch: But Republican Supreme Court Justice Judith L. French is losing by 6 points to Cleveland Judge John P. O’Donnell, with more than half the voters undecided. Judicial candidates do not have party labels attached to their names on … Continue reading
Miami Herald: When Lanell Williams-Yulee began running for a Hillsborough County judgeship in 2009, she signed a letter to would-be supporters seeking contributions for her campaign. Now, five years later, Williams-Yulee’s letter could spur the U.S. Supreme Court to wade … Continue reading
David Ettinger has written this interesting post at the At the Lectern blog. It begins: Not long after California voters ousted Chief Justice Rose Bird and Associate Justices Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso from the state Supreme Court, new Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas assured that … Continue reading
The Star-Tribune reports that “[Republican] Party officials passed a resolution banning Michelle MacDonald from the GOP’s booth because of a pending drunken driving case.” … Continue reading
Marcia Coyle: “The petition in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar asks the justices whether a rule of judicial conduct that prohibits candidates for judicial office from personally soliciting campaign funds violates the First Amendment.” … Continue reading
NYT reports. See also Kenneth Jost, In Tennessee, Justices Win by Playing Game. … Continue reading
The Tennessean: in a major defeat for Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, voters on Thursday voted to keep all three Tennessee Supreme Court justices in retention elections. Chief Justice Gary Wade and Justices Connie Clark and Sharon Lee all survived to … Continue reading
Important NYT report. … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. … Continue reading
Ron Collins blogs. … Continue reading
If Judges Campaign Like Ordinary Politicians, Can We Have Impartial Courts? by Dorothy Samuels and President Obama’s Fundraising Scandal by David Firestone. … Continue reading
Craig Burnett and Lydia Brashear Tiede have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Judicature). Here is the abstract: Judicial elections are typical “down ballot” elections, rarely capturing the interest of most voters. To help distinguish themselves at the polls, judicial … Continue reading
News from Tennessee: By adopting a stricter rule against judicial politicking than a national model, Tennessee Supreme Court justices may have set a standard that three are now violating as they seek re-election to new terms, according to attorneys for … Continue reading
E&E: The commercial starts like all the political attack ads voters in the swing state of North Carolina are used to seeing: black-and-white graphics, ominous voice-over, newspaper clippings. In less than 10 seconds, though, the spot takes a striking turn. … Continue reading
Press release: Yesterday, the Campaign Legal Center joined with other nonprofit groups concerned with the integrity of the courts in filing an amici curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to review en banc … Continue reading
Dahlia Lithwick writes for Slate. … Continue reading
Following up on this post, see this opinion in Ohio Council 8 AFSCME v. Brunner. … Continue reading
Columbus Dispatch: “A federal court judge has upheld Ohio unique system of having judicial candidates run as Democrats or Republicans in primary elections, but then stripping them of partisan labels in the general election.” Anyone have the opinion? … Continue reading
WSJ: A jury awarded a former coal company $4 million on Friday after finding that Massey Energy Co. drove it out of business through an elaborate scheme 16 years ago, closing a chapter in a long-running legal battle that embroiled … Continue reading
NYT editorial. … Continue reading
Ron Collins blogs. … Continue reading
Jessica Levinson LAT oped. … Continue reading
Via Mike Sacks comes news of this new decision. Majority by Judge Paez; concurrence by Judge Berzon, and dissent by Judge Tallman. The majority opinion begins: A state sets itself on a collision course with the First Amendment when it … Continue reading
Erik Eckholm with an important and extensive NYT report. … Continue reading
Maya Sen in the NYT Sunday Review: RESEARCH has long shown that female judges vote differently from men on issues of sex discrimination, harassment and sentencing, while black judges vote differently from whites on issues involving civil rights and affirmative … Continue reading
Charles Geyh has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Annual Review of Law and Social Science). Here is the abstract: Judicial independence is a sprawling topic. For some scholars, that is its problem: it is an amoeba, a formless thing … Continue reading
New battle in Florida: “Voters will have a chance to decide whether an outgoing governor should appoint vacancies on the Florida Supreme Court that open at the same time a new governor is sworn in.” … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
The Indy Star reports. … Continue reading
Justice at Risk: Research Opportunities and Policy Alternatives Regarding State Judicial Selection. Looks like a fabulous lineup at March 21 Vanderbilt event. … Continue reading
HuffPo reports. … Continue reading
Bert Brandenberg USA Today oped. … Continue reading
News from California. … Continue reading
Extensive CPI investigation. … Continue reading
Bob Bauer blogs. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
See this press release. … Continue reading
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Chief Justice Ron Castille wants voters to give him one more 10-year term on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, even though he will serve only a year because of the mandatory retirement law for judges. Castille is running for … Continue reading
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism: In January 2009, Milwaukee area attorney Mark Thomsen donated $5,000 to a Wisconsin official’s political campaign. Thomsen soon sent an additional $500 just eight days before the official cast a key vote on an insurance … Continue reading
Michigan Bar Journal reports. See also this letter. … Continue reading
Important Brennan Center/Justice at Stake Event in DC on October 29. … Continue reading
Invitation to comment on the draft opinion. … Continue reading
CLC Press Release. … Continue reading
Indiana Lawyer: “A federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that has given rise to the Democratic and Republican slating system under which Marion Superior judges are elected will go forward.” … Continue reading
AP reports. … Continue reading
Andrew Cohen exchange with Justice Willett. … Continue reading
AP reports on denial of rehearing. Here’s a description of the case from the 2013 Supplement to Election Law: Cases and Materials (5th ed. 2012). In Sanders County Republican Central Committee v. Bullock, 698 F.3d 741 (9th Cir. 2012), the … Continue reading