News & Updates

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich promised to “restore the proper role of the judicial branch.” Among his proposals in this regard are ignoring federal court decisions with which he disagrees and subpoenaing federal judges to seek explanations for their decisions.

Supreme court justice Michael Eakin, who is standing for retention in November, has so far raised $427,000 to keep his seat. Even though the race is uncontested, his campaign may be preparing for a last-minute attack. (Pennsylvania judges are first chosen in partisan elections and stand for retention for subsequent terms. Judicial elections are held in off years in conjunction with municipal elections.)

A subcommittee of the judicial branch in Connecticut is reviewing whether the state's evaluation system, which includes surveys to jurors and attorneys, is achieving its goal. The subcommittee is considering ways to revise the existing questionnaire.

The authors suggest that, though the Supreme Court of the United States has in recent years struck down campaign finance laws, it may be willing to tolerate limits on spending in judicial elections. Click here to read the article.

This article recognizes that there is no shortage of debate about the best way to seat judges. Some states, like Tennessee, are considering moving from a judicial appointment system to an election system, while others, like Pennsylvania, are attempting to move their system in the other direction.

Doug Buttrey, executive director of Tennesseans for Economic Growth, lauded Tennessee for enacting civil justice reform but cautioned that its plan to make Tennessee the number one state in job creation and retention can't stop there. He urged Tennessee, which uses commission-based gubernatorial appointment for its Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Court of Criminal Appeals, to keep its current system.

This week, Justice at Stake's Gavel Grab featured a guest post by Malia Reddick and Russell Wheeler on the recently released second edition of "Options for Federal Judicial Screening Committees."

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has named eight judges as new committee chairs and extended the service of three existing chairs for the Judicial Conference of the United States. The committees make policy recommendations to the Conference. Click…

Missouri Bar President John S. Johnston countered a recent Wall Street Journal editorial attack on its merit-based judicial selection system: "Although I usually find your opinion pieces very good, I read with sadness your editorial 'Missouri Compromised.' Your editorial position on the issue of merit selection of judges, often called The Missouri Plan, is simply wrong."

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin declined to open its deliberations to the public. The proposal was made by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who hoped it might restore civility to the process. The Court also tabled a proposal to bring in a workplace consultant to work with the justices on collegiality.

In the wake of allegations that a Pennsylvania state senator improperly helped her sister get elected to the state's high court, the Inquirer calls for merit-based appointment of appellate judges.

Newly elected president of the American Judges Association (AJA) and IAALS board member Judge Kevin Burke has launched a blog on behalf of the AJA.

IAALS board member Russell Wheeler discusses recent proposals to apply the United States Judicial Conference's Code of Conduct for United States Judges to members of the Supreme Court and establish a new appellate route to review recusals.

IAALS board member Judge Kevin Burke of Hennepin County District Court is interviewed in this article about judicial election reform action in Minnesota.