News & Updates

The Akron Bar Association formed a judicial campaign conduct committee as part of an effort to improve the tone and conduct of local judicial campaigns. The committee will ask candidates to sign a clean-campaign pledge and will review complaints about improper campaign behavior. The committee consists of five Democrats, five Republicans, and an independent and includes eight lawyers and three non-lawyers.

While the state bar association supports Proposition 115, which goes before voters in November, other members of the legal community oppose its passage. Among other changes, the measure would increase the number of nominees from which the governor makes judicial appointments and give the governor greater control over the membership of the commission that makes the nominations.

The three justices standing for retention in November embarked on a tour of news organizations around the state in an effort to better inform voters about the merit selection and retention process for appellate judges. The justices have raised nearly $975,000 to support their retention.

An incumbent justice seeking reelection denied violating canons of judicial ethics in response to a charge by his opponent that he accepted a campaign contribution from a party whose case he heard. Republican Justice Robert Cupp said that he does not monitor who his contributors are and his campaign committee does not monitor his docket.

The Democratic candidate for chief justice was removed as his party’s nominee for reportedly making “disparaging remarks about homosexuals, his Republican opponent and party leaders.” Following a hearing, a five-member party committee voted unanimously to take this step and reopened the qualifying period for candidates.

Although the senate judiciary committee voted not to recommend her confirmation to the full senate, the senate confirmed Su J. Chon’s appointment as a district court judge by a 17-10 margin.

Of the 14 applicants for a supreme court vacancy, the judicial nominating commission voted to interview nine, including three Democrats. This was the most Democrats to make it to the interview stage and could have provided the largest number of nominees from which to choose of three vacancies that Governor Brewer has filled.

A study of the sentencing practices of superior court judges suggests that their elections influence their behavior, with judges handing out stiffer sentences from the time they take the bench to their first election.

The plaintiff in a challenge to the constitutionality of the process for selecting the state's appellate judges asked two retired supreme court justices and a former federal judge to recuse themselves from a special five-member panel appointed by Governor Haslam to hear the case, alleging that as former judges "their impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

Senator Durbin of Illinois formed a thirteen-member, bipartisan screening committee to recommend potential candidates to President Obama for three judicial vacancies in the Northern District. Before making final recommendations, Durbin plans to consult with his Republican counterpart, Senator Kirk, who uses a similar committee process.

A trial court judge who was removed from office on July 31 for ethics violations was one of the top-two vote getters in the August 7 primary election for her seat and will advance to the general election. According to the supreme court, her removal extends only through the end of the year.

Conservative candidates for the state senate defeated moderates in at least seven Republican primary contests, making it likely that conservatives will hold 27 of 32 GOP seats in the 40-member senate in 2013-14. One of their key policy priorities is expected to be moving from merit selection of appellate judges to gubernatorial appointment with senate confirmation.

A trial judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to remove three supreme court justices from the November retention ballot, ruling that the two Florida voters who filed the suit lack standing. With the assistance of the Southeast Legal Foundation, the voters claimed that the justices violated state law by using court employees to assist in filing campaign documents.

In a state where judicial elections are nonpartisan in the sense that party affiliation does not appear on the ballot, the state Republican party endorsed three supreme court candidates, including two incumbents.

The commission on judicial performance released evaluation reports for 90 judges standing for retention in November. Only one judge—a county court judge in El Paso County—received a “do not retain” recommendation.

The state AFL-CIO endorsed the Republican candidate for chief justice, Roy Moore. Though the organization usually backs Democratic candidates, its president said that Moore has a record of “treating the average person fairly in court.” Moore has also received $55,000 in contributions to date from plaintiff attorneys.

Three justices of the supreme court of appeals recused themselves from hearing a constitutional challenge to the distribution of matching funds under the state’s pilot public financing program for supreme court races.

Justice Michael Gableman recused himself from considering charges of ethical violations against fellow justice David Prosser, making him the fourth justice of the seven-member court to do so and leaving the court without a quorum to hear the case.

The outcome of a supreme court race has led some to question the role of ethnicity in judicial elections. Incumbent justice Steve Gonzalez’s opponent did not raise money or campaign but still garnered 42 percent of the vote. Observers note that voters who lack information about judicial candidates often cast their votes based on race, sex, and other factors unrelated to qualifications.

From two nominees submitted by the Alaska Judicial Council, Governor Parnell appointed Anchorage attorney Peter Maassen to fill the vacancy created by Justice Morgan Christen’s appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.