Tennessee

The supreme court amended the code of judicial conduct to bar elected judges from hearing cases when a litigant, lawyer, or law firm involved in the case “has made contributions or given such support to the judge’s campaign that the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

Two constitutional amendments have been proposed to move away from merit selection for appellate judges, a statutory process that sunsets in 2012. But since the constitution cannot be amended until 2014, the state bar association called for the legislature to extend the Tennessee Plan in the meantime.

A state senator proposed a constitutional amendment to alter the way the members of the state’s three appellate courts are selected. The proposal calls for a modified federal selection process, where judges are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the senate for eight year terms, subject to reappointment. The Tennessee Plan is set to expire in 2012, so some type of legislative action must be taken.

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.