Efforts to change the way judges are selected have grown into a national trend, according to an AP article about an attack on merit selection in Kansas. The article also spotlighted Justice at Stake. See Gavel Grab for more.
"Today, the opportunity to access justice in our courts is becoming as much a luxury as a Louis Vuitton bag."
ABA President Stephen Zack
ABA President Stephen Zack
Justice at Stake in the News
Justice at Stake and some other national and local groups are working to preserve a program for public financing of appellate court candidates in North Carolina from efforts to eliminate it, the AP reported. See Gavel Grab for details.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a leading voice for fair and impartial courts, is joining Justice at Stake as its first Honorary Chair. Read Gavel Grab for more.
TV ad spending in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race that concluded this week exceeded $1.1 million, Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice reported. For more, see Gavel Grab.
The Associated Press, reporting on a new judicial selection law in Kansas, quoted Justice at Stake over the concerns it raised about politics influencing the delivery of justice. Learn more from Gavel Grab.
In a USA Today online op-ed, Justice at Stake Executive Director Bert Brandenburg warned states about dangers when they dismantle merit selection and emulate the federal model for selecting judges. Find out more from Gavel Grab.
Justice at Stake proudly announced that Mark I. Harrison, JAS board chairman, will be honored by the American Bar Association for making a positive impact on public understanding of the role of the judiciary. See Gavel Grab for more.
A strong majority of Kansas voters opposes rewriting the state Constitution to change the process for choosing Supreme Court justices, according to a new poll commissioned by Justice at Stake. Find out more from Gavel Grab.
...The 2012 race shattered spending records as $27.8 million was spent on television advertising, according to Justice at Stake, and more than half of this money came in the form of independent spending. Read more at ThinkProgress
Justice at Stake called for the Senate to take prompt action and hold up-or-down votes on pending judicial nominees, saying, “Our courts should not be held hostage to partisan politics.” Read Gavel Grab for more.
The dominant role of special-interest groups in an election cycle of record-breaking state judicial election spending has “severely weakened the principle of fair and impartial courts,” a New York Times editorial says. For more, see Gavel Grab.
This year’s round of state judicial elections broke previous records for the amounts spent on judicial campaigns around the country. The dominant role played by special-interest money — including money from super PACs financed by undisclosed donors — has severely weakened the principle of fair and impartial courts. Read more at the New York Times
State Supreme Court elections shattered spending records this year, as special interests doled out millions to influence the law. Nearly $28 million was spent on television advertising — more money than in any previous year — and more than half of this money came from interest groups independent of the campaigns, according to Justice at Stake. Read more at Livingston Daily
Although Election Day showed deep division in America, voters delivered a true mandate on one front: “[T]hey want their judiciary to be nonpartisan,” JAS Executive Director Bert Brandenburg wrote in Slate. For more, see Gavel Grab.
Tucked away in last Tuesday’s national election results was a bona fide mandate, on a scale that presidents can only dream of. Voters across the country rejected a multifront crusade to bully judges and politicize courtrooms. That doesn’t mean, though, that the war against the independent judiciary is over. Read more at Slate
If massive automatic federal budget cuts set for January are not averted, the result "would be disastrous" for the judiciary, Justice at Stake said in a letter to congressional leaders. Find out details from Gavel Grab.
Justice at Stake is asking Senate leaders to take “prompt action” on all pending judicial nominees and is urging bipartisan cooperation to hold up-or-down votes during the upcoming lame duck session. For more, see Gavel Grab.
More than $27 million was spent on television advertising in this year’s state Supreme Court races, according to two groups that tracked the elections. Even though final fundraising totals are not yet available, Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice announced earlier this week that TV spending in Supreme Court races appears on track to break records. Read more at the Madison County Record
... The trend appears to have continued in this election cycle with anti-retention campaigns and expensive television advertising, but Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice reports that all 25 high court justices up for retention this year in 13 states won voter approval in Tuesday’s election. Read more at the Madison County Record
...But that doesn’t make the Supreme Court elections any less extraordinary. At least $19.5 million was spent on television advertisements alone, according to Justice at Stake, a national group that criticizes judicial elections. Those ads — most coming from political parties and outside groups — grew increasingly negative, sometimes distorting candidates' records. Read more at Stateline
Voting not to retain state Supreme Court justices might someday become a common way that voters showcase their disagreement with justices’ decisions. But Tuesday’s election results indicate that that day has yet to arrive. Let’s give you the rundown on all the major judicial elections. Read more at the Wall Street Journal
Organized campaigns to remove three Florida Supreme Court justices and one Iowa justice were rejected by voters in those states on Tuesday. Find out more from Gavel Grab.
Americans overwhelmingly rejected big-money attempts to hijack their courts on Election Day, Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice said Wednesday. Read Gavel Grab for more.
Organized campaigns to remove three Florida Supreme Court justices and one Iowa justice were rejected by voters in those states on Tuesday. Find out details in Gavel Grab.
Negative ads are playing an increasingly prominent role in judicial campaigns during the final days before Nov. 6, according to a joint analysis by Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice. For more, see Gavel Grab.
