Selection Snapshots

Governor Haslam indicated that he would support moving to a federal selection system for the state’s appellate judges, after a senate committee approved such a proposal. Earlier this year Haslam joined with Lieutenant Governor Ramsey and House Speaker Harwell to sponsor a bill that would constitutionalize the current merit selection and retention plan. A third measure calling for contested elections of judges is also under consideration.

Supreme court justice Joan Orie Melvin’s sister was convicted on 24 corruption charges, but not on theft and ethics-related charges involving the justice’s past campaigns. Legal experts said this did not rule out a grand jury indictment of Justice Melvin.

The Republican candidate for attorney general voiced his support for moving to a federal system of selecting judges. Such a proposal passed a house committee in March and is under consideration in the senate judiciary committee.

Justice Frank Sullivan announced his intention to step down by the end of August, allowing Governor Daniels to make his third appointment to the high court. It also presents another opportunity to appoint a woman to the all-male court.

His fellow supreme court justices elected Justice Ricky Polston to serve as the next chief justice. The position rotates among the court’s members. Polston was appointed to the court in 2008 by Governor Crist.

Two supreme court races are on the ballot in November, with two Republicans and six Democrats vying for the seats. As the May 8 primary approached, the candidates expressed differing views on judicial recusal, public financing for judicial campaigns, and the need for an intermediate appellate court.

The April 2012 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available.

Competing proposals for judicial recusal were offered by the chief justice and a supreme court candidate. One plan would allow the other justices to determine when a colleague should recuse, while the other would leave the decision to an independent person or group. The full court must approve a rules change.

The senate voted unanimously to replace the existing judicial disciplinary body—the court on the judiciary—with a new entity known as the board of judicial conduct. The state bar and the supreme court would no longer have a role in selecting members of the disciplinary body, and greater transparency in its work would be required.

Commentators speculated that this year’s judicial races could break past records for campaign spending. In 2010, with two seats on the ballot, $11 million was spent on TV ads alone, most of which were negative in tone and were funded by outside groups not required to file campaign finance reports.