In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked a Montana state law barring political party endorsements of judicial candidates.

All 18 judges up for retention in Pima County Superior Court received generally high scores by the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance, with most scoring higher than 85 percent in all categories. Judges in Pima and Maricopa counties (and state appellate judges) must stand for periodic retention by voters.

A circuit court judge rejected a challenge to the ballot summary for a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the governor to name an additional member of the commission that nominates potential appellate judges and increase the required number of nominees from three to four.

The Florida Supreme Court has recently amended its Rules of Civil Procedure to address the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). These amendments became effective September 1, 2012.

Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Advisory Committee member, Justice Christine Durham, has been selected by the American Judicature Society to receive the Eighth Annual Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence.

LawMeets, a website that provides law students with free transactional simulations, is now offering free transactional law courses which can be used by individual students or incorporated into law school classes. These online courses will combine lectures and simulations to teach law students the nuts-and-bolts of business transactions.

The cast of "West Wing" has reunited to film two short web videos, urging voters to participate in nonpartisan state supreme court elections. One video specifically plugs Michigan Supreme Court candidate Bridget Mary McCormack while the other is a geared toward a more national audience.

In "Check One and the Accountability Is Done: The Harmful Impact of Straight-Ticket Voting on Judicial Elections," the authors argue that straight-ticket voting plays a pernicious role with respect to voter choice and “renders meaningful judicial accountability highly unlikely.” The authors question the legitimacy of a vote “based upon minimal information and reasoning” and argue that "marketing judges as mere accessories to the whole of a political party is simply bad for justice."

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announces the release of Another Voice: Financial Experts on Reducing Client Costs in Civil Litigation, a new report prepared in collaboration with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that evaluates the cost and delays of litigation from a new perspective: that of financial expert witnesses.

A group known as The Do Good Dads Against Unjust Judges is challenging the retention of three local judges. The group takes issue with the judges’ rulings in cases involving child custody, adoptions, and child abuse, among others. The group is also pursuing legislative changes and better training for attorneys who handle custody cases.

Instead of launching his own campaign to fight back against the effort to remove him, Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins affirmed his belief that politicizing the courts leads to outcome-motivated judges who hold themselves accountable to donors and critics instead of the law. Similarly, while Florida State Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince has launched a campaign to stay on the bench, doing so makes her “uncomfortable.”

The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission has published its evaluation reports and recommendations online. The Commission was created by statute in 2008 and undertook midterm evaluations in 2010 that were only for self-improvement purposes.