Litigation

Merit Selection Backed in IN County

Posted on January 20, 2011
Commissioners for Lake County, Indiana have voted in favor of a bill in the state legislature to permit the appointment of four judges who preside over the county division of Lake Superior Court. “It takes some politics out of the courts and makes them more neutral,” said County Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, according to a  Post-Tribune [...

IA Judicial Selection Lawsuit is Rejected

Posted on January 20, 2011
A lawsuit challenging part of  Iowa’s merit-selection process for choosing state Supreme Court justices was thrown out by a federal judge, who called the challengers’ argument “fatally flawed.” The lawsuit challenged the makeup of the commission that screens candidates for Iowa?s Supreme Court and sought to stop its seven lawyer members from helping to pick [...

Group Sees Possible Conflicts by Scalia, Thomas

Posted on January 20, 2011
Common Cause is asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have disqualified themselves from participating in the landmark Citizens United case. Common Cause asked the Justice Department Wednesday to investigate whether the  justices had conflicts of interest that warranted their disqualification, and if it concludes a [...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 19, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: To cut costs and trim the power of the judicial branch, a Montana Republican legislator is proposing to reduce the size of the state Supreme Court from seven justices to five, according to a KFBB...

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Justice Cady Laments IA Impeachment Talk

Posted on January 19, 2011
Iowa Chief Justice Mark Cady has promised transparency and openness in the judiciary as he engages in a speaking tour. In the wake of the Election Day ouster of three state Supreme Court justices, Justice Cady said he found himself in a position he never requested, of explaining how the justice system works, the Quad [...

U.S. Appeals Judge?s Health Care Ruling

Posted on January 19, 2011
President Obama’s administration formally appealed this week a federal judge?s ruling that declared unconstitutional a key section of the new U.S. health care reform law. The Justice Department filed notice that it was appealing to the Fourth U...

Judge Roll Called ?Hero? for Actions

Posted on January 19, 2011
The federal judge who was slain in Arizona appears to have tried to save the life of another man at the Tucson shooting scene, according to an investigator who watched surveillance video. Chris Nanos, a captain with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, told the Wall Street Journal that Judge John M...

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 18, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: A new study of laughter during the Supreme Court’s oral arguments suggests the justices are laughing with those advocates appearing before them, not at the lawyers, according to a Washington Post article...

Cady: Campaigns for IA Justices in Future?

Posted on January 18, 2011
Chief Justice Mark S. Cady of the Iowa Supreme Court says jurists on that bench may have to raise money and campaign actively in future retention elections. Justice Cady, in a TV interview, said the Election Day ouster of three of his colleagues may leave Iowa Supreme Court justices no option in the future but [...

D.C. Gay Marriage Law Survives Challenge

Posted on January 18, 2011
The Supreme Court turned aside Tuesday an appeal request by foes of the District of Columbia’s gay marriage law, who had fought to get a ballot question inviting voters to reverse the statute. In July, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that D...

JAS Poll: Iowans Firmly Oppose Impeachment

Posted on January 18, 2011
Iowa voters are solidly against a proposal to impeach four state Supreme Court justices, according to two new polls, one of them commissioned by the Justice at Stake Campaign and an Iowa-based group. The impeachment proposal has drawn increasing national attention in recent weeks, following the historic ouster of three other Iowa justices by voters [...

Judge Roll is Mourned by Thousands

Posted on January 14, 2011
Federal Judge John M. Roll of Arizona, remembered by lawyers as a model of fairness, was mourned by thousands –  including fellow judges and dignitaries — at a funeral service in Tucson Friday. Chief District Judge Roll had received numerous threats over his handling of a controversial case involving illegal immigrants two years ago...

Report: MI Justice Favored Appointing Judges

Posted on January 14, 2011
A new appointee to the Michigan Supreme Court, Brian Zahra, is reported by a newspaper blog to have made past statements in support of judicial appointments over elections. According to the Editorial blog of the Detroit Free Press, Zahra completed endorsement questionnaires in 2004 and 2006 when he was running for the state Supreme Court [...

Three Qualify for Public Financing in WI

Posted on January 14, 2011
Three candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court have gotten approval for public financing of their campaigns, amounting to a $100,000 IOU for each leading up to the February primary. For the first time, the three will get to use the campaign cash as a result of  Wisconsin?s new public campaign financing law...

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 13, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: An election for a juvenile court judgeship in Hamilton County, Ohio was “thrown into chaos” by conflicting orders from the state Supreme Court and from a federal district judge on how to count disputed ballots that could determine victory, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported...

Tight Security for Judge?s Funeral in Tucson

Posted on January 13, 2011
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXd4-9AkWL0 When a funeral service is held in Tucson Friday for murdered federal Judge John M. Roll, judges from around the nation are expected to attend amid ultra-tight security. “I can’t give a specific number, but there are about 100-plus judges who are coming in from all over the country, from Supreme Court justices to [...

Will Iowa Impeachment Stall?

Posted on January 13, 2011
A key Iowa Republican thinks it’s unlikely that legislators will impeach four state Supreme Court justices. ?I don?t believe there?s any likelihood of impeachment,? said state Rep. Richard Anderson, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which would have to clear articles of impeachment before the full state House could take them up, according to a [...

All U.S. Judges in AZ May Recuse in Shooting Case

Posted on January 12, 2011
Arizona’s complete federal judiciary is considering stepping aside from involvement in the murder trial of accused murderer Jared Loughner, to avoid possible conflicts of interest. Chief District Judge John M. Roll was shot fatally in a rampage Saturday that apparently targeted Rep...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 12, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote her first opinion, siding with a credit card company in a bankruptcy case, and as is typically the case for a freshman justice, it was not a dramatic or remarkably important case, the Los Angeles Times reported...

Top Justice Defends IA Merit Selection, Marriage Ruling

Posted on January 12, 2011
With national attention on Iowa, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark S. Cady today staunchly defended both a controversial court decision permitting same-sex marriage and Iowa’s merit selection process for choosing judges. Justice Cady (photo at right) delivered his State of the Judiciary Message to legislators on the same day a New York Times editorial, [...

Action Urged to Honor Judge Roll

Posted on January 11, 2011
President Obama will attend a memorial service in Tucson Wednesday to honor victims of the shooting rampage. While Obama is likely to touch on the killing of Chief District Judge John M. Roll, one of 20 people shot in the attack that apparently targeted Rep...

How to Handle ?Alarming? Safety Risks for Judges?

Posted on January 11, 2011
Rep. Peter King of New York, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Tuesday he plans to introduce a bill that would make it a crime for people to carry a gun within 1,000 feet of a federal judge or member of Congress. “In the United States, it is illegal to bring a gun [...

JAS Impeachment Critique is Cited

Posted on January 10, 2011
A statement by Justice at Stake executive director Bert Brandenburg on a proposal to impeach four Iowa Supreme Court justices drew extensive news media coverage. In the statement, Brandenburg warned, “Impeachment is not a wrecking ball to be used every time we disagree with their decisions...

Moment of Silence Observed After Massacre

Posted on January 10, 2011
In a rare interruption of its public session, the Supreme Court paused for a moment of silence Monday to honor the victims of a shooting rampage in Arizona, including a federal judge. The “senseless shooting on Saturday caused devastating injury to persons who all, in their own way, contribute to the strength of our nation,” [...

New Justice Appointed to MI High Court

Posted on January 10, 2011
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, on Monday named appeals judge Brian Zahra to an opening on the state Supreme Court.  Judge Zahra’s selection maintains a four-judge majority on the seven-judge court, according to an article from MLive.com, operated by Booth Newspapers...

IA Paper: Impeachment Plan is ?Pure Insanity?

Posted on January 10, 2011
A propose to impeach four Iowa Supreme Court justices amounts to “pure insanity,” a leading state newspaper editorialized as the legislature opened today. In an editorial entitled “Stop the impeachment effort now,” the Des Moines Register strongly condemned talk of impeaching four justices who remain on the court after voters removed three others in November...

Judges Shaken by Colleague?s Killing

Posted on January 10, 2011
Judge John M. Roll wasn’t the target of a gunman outside a Tucson supermarket. Even so, the 63-year-old federal judge’s slaying was hugely unsettling to other federal judges, even beyond the loss of one of their colleagues. In an era of rising threats against judges, Judge Roll’s fatal shooting raised troubling questions, TIME reported in [...

Reports: Slain Judge an Innocent Bystander?

Posted on January 09, 2011
He had received death threats in the past. But Chief Judge John M. Roll of the federal district court in Arizona apparently was an innocent bystander when he was slain during a shooting rampage that gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a law enforcement official said...

Federal Judge Fatally Shot in AZ Attack

Posted on January 08, 2011
BULLETIN: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Judge John Roll “was a wise jurist who selflessly served Arizona and the nation with great distinction, as attorney and judge, for more than 35 years….Chief Judge Roll?s death is a somber reminder of the importance of the rule of law and the sacrifices of those who [...

JAS Op-Ed on Iowa in Washington Post

Posted on January 07, 2011
The Washington Post today published an op-ed by JAS Executive Director Bert Brandenburg , on the looming impeachment crisis in Iowa. Some lawmakers in that state have vowed to oust four justices who joined a 7-0 opinion that struck down a ban on same-sex marriage...

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