A Washington Post editorial cited JAS' "New Politics 2009-10" report in urging an end to judicial elections. See Gavel Grab about it, or read more editorials from Pennsylvania, from Alabama, and from Michigan.
"It appears that justice indeed is for sale."
Hugh Caperton, plaintiff in Caperton v. Massey
Hugh Caperton, plaintiff in Caperton v. Massey
New Politics In the News
Before a national TV audience, JAS spotlighted the threat to impartial courts posed by heavy special-interest spending on judicial elections, and its new report documenting the threat. For more, see Gavel Grab.
A 'blistering' JAS report on special-interest spending in judicial elections shows why reform is needed to ensure impartial courts, a TIME analyst declares. Find out more from Gavel Grab.
At both national and state levels, “The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2009-10″ captured extensive news media coverage in the hours after its release Thursday. See Gavel Grab for more.
A report on "The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2009-2010" was posted online today, and it already has captured news media attention in The Washington Post. See Gavel Grab for more.
One judge fell asleep during trials, berated her staff and forced her bailiff to massage her feet. Another hurled racial slurs at employees and admitted to sexual trysts with his assistant during working hours. Nevada has suffered a string of judicial embarrassments in recent years, including a 2006 Los Angeles...
If you're a fan of The Exorcist and Carrie, if you like sex and violence and ominous music, you've come to the right place. Because we have gathered some of the most spine-chilling Halloween footage you will ever see—all produced in an effort to influence state judicial elections. Thirty-eight states...
State Supreme Court races are turning into high-dollar battles, a national trend that has been slow to arrive in Arkansas. Between 2000 and 2009, 19 candidates raised $1.9 million for Arkansas Supreme Court elections, according to a recent report released jointly by the Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center...
No member of the Republican-dominated Alabama Supreme Court touts his conservative credentials more than Tom Parker. But in paying for his campaign, the darling of social conservatives and protégé of former Chief Justice Roy Moore has turned to political action committees with close ties to Democrats and gambling interests, a...
The cost of judicial elections in dollars, public perception, public confidence in the courts and pressure applied to sitting judges is astounding. A recent national, nonpartisan study revealed tens of millions of dollars are now invested in judicial contests in the U.S. Campaign contributions are pouring into judicial elections from...
On Sept. 30, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor highlighted a program on the "New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009: Decade of Change." To see photos and video, click here. To learn more about the event, including Justice O'Connor's remarks, see Gavel Grab.
The centerpiece of the study is a seemingly startling number, which has been repeated in media outlets across the country: Fundraising for state Supreme Court elections has "more than doubled" over the past 10 years, from $83.3 million in 1990-99 to $206.9 million in 2000-09. Opponents of judicial elections have...
Minneapolis — In what's officially a nonpartisan race, Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Greg Wersal appears at as many Republican events as he can. He goes to tea party gatherings. He's shaken hands at the State Fair, county fairs and retirement homes. And the conservative activist has spent much of the...
In the most significant shift toward transparency in its 70-year history, the Nonpartisan Court Plan will now require judicial candidates to present themselves to the public. Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. announced three major changes to the process for selecting judges: (34th paragraph)In defending Missouri's Nonpartisan...
Texas ranks fourth nationwide in Supreme Court candidate spending between 2000 and 2009. Three legal reform groups, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Justice at Stake Campaign and the National Institute on Money in State Politics, said donations jumped nationally, risking "the impartiality of our" courts. The top states in...
What do Democrats and Republicans agree on? Not much. But in one area the agreement is striking. A recent nationwide poll showed that Americans of both parties overwhelmingly want special-interest money and partisan politics to stay out of U.S. court systems. The Harris Interactive poll was commissioned by Justice at...
When novelist John Grisham set out to write his Mississippi-based legal thriller The Appeal, he found inspiration in an authentic case out of West Virginia. The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2000-2009: Decade of Change The real-life plotline in Caperton v. Massey starred Brent D. Benjamin, running for a seat...
Sandra Day O'Connor has done an almost frighteningly good job of keeping herself outside the political fray since she retired from the Supreme Court in 2006. Even when afforded an opportunity to pick sides she tends to avoid doing so, unless it's the high road. Of the two causes she...
Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor is in the broadcast booth at Chicago's Wrigley Field, having just delivered the game ball to the umpires on the field and now regaling the two announcers about a pet project: better civics education. "I never thought I would see the day when...
The nature of state judicial elections has changed dramatically in recent years, and not for the better. Expanding their influence-peddling efforts beyond executive offices, like president and governor, and legislative offices, like Congress and state legislatures, well-heeled special interests have become a dominant force in crucial state judicial races. Click...
Among former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer biggest initiatives while on the bench was to replace the election of Supreme Court judges in Ohio with a new system requiring the governor to appoint them from candidates approved by a nominating panel. Moyer, who served 24 years as...
Members of Congress aren't the only ones sweating about their prospects in November. An unprecedented number of incumbent state judges are facing a flood of special interest dollars aiming to kick them off the bench. Money-drenched judicial elections undermine fair and impartial courts: The justice system suffers when judges are...
Remember the infamous "Lady Justice" TV commercial portraying a justice peeking from under her blindfold to see bags of cash being dumped on her desk? Then-Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick, a Democrat, managed to win a third six-year term in 2000 despite the ad. Eleventh District Court of...
Michigan is one of the top spenders when it comes to judicial elections, according to a Justice at Stake report release dearlier this month. In the 2008 Michigan Supreme Court election,television advertising spending reached $3.6 million - more than four times the amount spent in 2006. Michigan ranked third in...
Bob Vander Plaats likes to talk about the "ruling class" to illustrate the type of judges he doesn't want on the bench in Iowa. Vander Plaats, as most of you know, is running a campaign to eject the three Supreme Court judges up for retention on the November ballot. He...
