Before Sen. Kay Hagan's election to the U.S. Senate in 2008, the word in places like Raleigh and Chapel Hill was that if you needed help with a problem in Washington, call Sen. Richard Burr. He could cut through red tape, intervene with intransigent bureaucrats and help move things along....
"Across the country, state courts are drowning in a sea of special-interest campaign money."
New York Times editorial, Sept. 7, 2008
New York Times editorial, Sept. 7, 2008
Recent Fair-Courts Articles
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to take up Thursday the nomination of a Mississippi lawyer to the federal bench. The nomination of Jackson attorney Carlton W. Reeves to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi was among another a dozen on...
During the course of this month, the ILB has reviewed the records on appeal of the four trial judge semi-finalists to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court, and the oral advocacy of the three semi-finalists who have argued cases before the Court. Brent E. Steele, one of the...
Colorados Supreme Court Nominating Commission received 31 applications for the seat being vacated Nov. 30 by Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey, who is retiring, the Colorado Judicial Branch said Wednesday. Separately, a vacancy on the Colorado Court of Appeals generated 25 applications, said Jon Sarche, a branch spokesman. Sean Connelly is...
COLUMBUS - Ohio Democrats Wednesday sued to overturn a nearly 100-year-old state law that has judicial candidates running in partisan primaries but appearing without party labels on general election ballots. They also urged U.S. District Court in Columbus to strike down court rules of conduct that prevent judicial candidates from...
On July 6, the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board decried partisan campaigns in state Supreme Court races and suggested that appointing justices would be a cure, as if the people having a say in who governs them were a disease. Opining a lack of public faith in the judiciary, the Journal...
The problems associated with the election of Wisconsin's Supreme Court justices have continued to build in recent weeks with the court's deadlock on the ethics case against Justice Michael Gableman as well as the court's split decision on whether campaign contributions from parties with cases before the court are enough,...
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated Laredo lawyer Marina Garcia Marmolejo to be a federal judge in the U.S. Southern Judicial District of Texas. Marmolejo is the second candidate nominated by Obama for two open federal judicial seats in Laredo. The president also selected U.S. magistrate Judge Diana Saldaa...
Ever since the Supreme Court struck down a law that restricted corporate and union spending on campaign advertisements, observers have feared a flood of undisclosed political donations that could tip the scales in November. The Disclose Act, the Democrats effort to stem that tide, passed the House in June but...
PHOENIX I am disappointed by Judge Susan Boltons ruling enjoining several provisions of The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act SB 1070; though I am heartened by some findings including the ban on sanctuary cities. This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning,...
Reaction is starting to come in to a judge's last-minute decision to put the most controversial aspects of the Arizona immigration law on hold, among them requirements that law enforcement must check a person's immigration status in certain situations and that immigrants carry their identification papers in public. Incredibly, even...
A federal judge in Arizona on Wednesday broadly vindicated the Obama administrations high-stakes move to challenge that states tough immigration law and to assert the primary authority of the federal government over state lawmakers in immigration matters. The ruling by Judge Susan R. Bolton, in a lawsuit against Arizona brought...
The judge didn't strike down the entire law. So what does it mean? U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton struck down every section the Obama administration cared about: a complete victory says CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford. She has ruled that the power to regulate immigration lies exclusively with...
A federal judge in Phoenix on Wednesday blocked key provisions of Arizona's controversial immigration law from taking effect as scheduled Thursday, granting in part an injunction requested by the Obama administration. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled that the injunction would apply to the portion of the state law that...
President Barack Obama called on the Senate today to vote on long-stalled nominees for the federal judiciary -- dipping a toe into an issue that has appeared relatively low among his priorities. In remarks at the White House, Obama said he wants to work with Republicans to fill judicial vacancies....
