Litigation

Judges in Transit

Posted on January 07, 2011
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he will select a “rule of law” justice to replace outgoing Justice Maura Corrigan, who will become head of the state Department of Human Services, the Detroit Free Press reported. Justice Carlos Moreno, the lone Democrat and only Hispanic on California’s Supreme Court, announced he will retire Feb...

Group Blasts IA Impeachment Threat

Posted on January 06, 2011
As some Iowa lawmakers discuss possible articles of impeachment against four state Supreme Court justices, a Des Moines-based group has warned that such a move threatens an independent judiciary. “Impeachment for a single controversial decision would be a dangerous precedent, an irresponsible use of legislative power, and a disservice to the citizens of Iowa,” cautioned [...

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 06, 2011
In other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Among the ideas that incoming Justice Charlie Wiggins has for improving the work of the Washington Supreme Court is forging broader consensus, according to an Associated Press profile of the judicial reform advocate who will be sworn in Friday...

Former MI Justice Urges Public Campaign Financing

Posted on January 06, 2011
Former Justice Elizabeth Weaver of the Michigan Supreme Court has offered a six-point proposal for reforming judicial selection in her state, including public financing for state Supreme Court campaigns. Other reforms that she proposed in a Grand Rapids Press commentary include no political party nominations of prospective justices; term limits, “and a justice never would [...

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Obama Resubmits 42 Judicial Picks

Posted on January 06, 2011
President Obama, facing a slimmer Democratic majority in the Senate, has resubmitted 42 judicial nominations — including those of four controversial appointees whom Republicans opposed. At the same time the Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced the creation of a commission to address stalled executive nominations, according to a Politico article...

Public Dollars Sought in WI Court Race

Posted on January 05, 2011
Wisconsin’s new public financing system for state Supreme Court candidates comes into play for the first time this year, and three  candidates have applied four public dollars. Incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and two challengers, Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg and Madison lawyer Joel Winning, filed campaign finance reports Wednesday that will be [...

IA Merit Selection Gets Heightened Scrutiny

Posted on January 05, 2011
Following the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices by voters, there is mounting scrutiny of a screening commission that picks finalists for the court and of Iowa’s merit selection process for selecting judges. A group called Iowa Judicial Watch, intending to reform judicial selection in the state, was announced, according to a Mason City [...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 05, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: The Michigan Supreme Court today picked Justice Robert Young Jr. (photo at right) as its chief justice, according to an Associated Press report. He is conservative, African American, and a nominee of the Republican Party who was re-elected in a tumultuous election last year (see Gavel [...

New Report Explores Obama Judicial Confirmations

Posted on January 05, 2011
President Obama won confirmation for a lower rate of his federal district court nominees than either of his two predecessors in a corresponding period, according to an expert on judicial nominations. Russell Wheeler, Visiting Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, has written one of his intermittent, authoritative reports, this latest one entitled “Judicial [...

Editorials Eye Justice Roberts? Political Judgment

Posted on January 04, 2011
Two leading national newspapers gave different appraisals of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.’s even-handed criticism of partisan politics that has stalled judicial nominations and resulted in some courts facing ?extraordinary caseloads.? Justice Roberts, in his year-end report on the federal judiciary (see Gavel Grab), wrote, “Each political party has found it easy to turn on [...

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 04, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: A commentary in the The Greater Lansing Business Monthly quoted Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, as saying that ?political parties and independent groups hijacked this [Michigan Supreme Court] election, heavily outspending the candidates, and ads on both sides were riddled with [...

IA Gov.-elect: Impeachment not ?Appropriate?

Posted on January 04, 2011
Iowa’s incoming Republican governor, after a period of fence-sitting, said he thinks that impeachment of four state Supreme Court justices would not be an “appropriate” fix to correct a controversial same-sex marriage ruling by the court...

Supreme Court Building Opened 75 Years Ago

Posted on January 03, 2011
A New York Times editorial paid tribute to the “Temple to Justice,” as its headline put it, recognizing the current Supreme Court building on the 75th anniversary of inaugural arguments there. Chief Justice William Howard Taft and architect Cass Gilbert made the building their project...

More Brickbats for IA Impeachment Proposal

Posted on January 03, 2011
A current president and a former head of the Iowa Bar Association are among the latest leaders to sound off over attempts proposed to remove four justices from the Iowa Supreme Court. “Calling for the resignation or impeachment of the Iowa Supreme Court justices is destructive rabble rousing at its worst and threatens the very [...

Challenge Ahead Over Tennessee Plan?

Posted on January 03, 2011
Are critics of Tennessee’s merit selection plan for selecting appeals court judges gearing up to seek a switch to partisan judicial elections? Maybe, suggests a Tennessean article that is entitled, “New fight brews over judge selection process in Tennessee...

Monday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on January 03, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto of the New Jersey Supreme Court, who contended last month that the court’s current makeup  is unconstitutional and he would therefore abstain from further decisions, said in a letter he will not seek renomination in September, according to a Newark Star-Ledger article...

Roberts Urges End to Stalls Over Nominations

Posted on January 03, 2011
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., in his year-end report on the federal judiciary,  sternly criticized the partisan politics that has stalled judicial nominations and resulted in some courts facing “extraordinary caseloads.” Justice Roberts also cited the economic downturn as another of two key “immediate obstacles” to achieving the goals of the federal judiciary...

Reform Advocate Joins WA Supreme Court

Posted on December 30, 2010
An advocate for limits on campaign contributions to judges and for public financing in judicial elections will take the oath of office for the Washington Supreme Court next month. Lawyer and former state appeals court judge Charlie Wiggins defeated incumbent Justice Richard Sanders in a razor-thin victory in November; when Wiggins was certified the winner, [...

Short History for IA Judicial Impeachment

Posted on December 30, 2010
Iowa’s history of impeaching judges is quite short, and the (first and ) last episode occurred more than a century ago. Around the country, more than a dozen states have addressed judicial impeachment in the past six years, with many of them targeting a particular judge for a controversial decision...

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 30, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: A Wisconsin State Journal editorial already is bemoaning what it calls a dreadful state Supreme Court election in 2011: “Then there’s the state Supreme Court race, which is shaping up to be another mud bath featuring millions of dollars in attack ads soiling the high court’s [...

Essay: ?Lack of Trust Undermines Our Courts?

Posted on December 30, 2010
Pennsylvanians have been served up a full menu of news articles lately about questionable judicial ethics, policies on gifts to judges and such benefits as car leases for certain judges. In the wake of these reports, our friends at Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts have written a thoughtful commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer, entitled “Judges must [...

Money Appeal Made to Remove IA Justices

Posted on December 29, 2010
Conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats is seeking to raise money in order to remove four Iowa Supreme Court justices. “Our interest is to engage our (supporters) and try to determine their interest in the call for getting the judges to resign as well as their interest in impeachment if they don’t resign,” the Associated Press [...

Young to Gain MI Chief Justice Post?

Posted on December 29, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWqc1lGYECY Justice Robert P. Young Jr. of the Michigan Supreme Court survived a tumultuous campaign season to win re-election. Now he’s turning his skills to winning the post of Michigan chief justice. The “deeply conservative” justice, as a Detroit News article portrayed him, told the newspaper he has nailed down enough votes to win the [...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 29, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: President Obama’s in-their-face “scolding” of the Supreme Court over its Citizens United ruling at the State of the Union address, and Justice Samuel Alito Jr.’s headshake and mouthing “not true” in response, marked the defining moments of the high court’s year, Tony Mauro writes in a [...

Health-Care Judges Hold Industry Stocks

Posted on December 29, 2010
Three federal judges hearing challenges to the new federal health law hold shares of companies in the industry, a Bloomberg article quoted the watchdog group Center for Public Integrity as reporting. They are District Judge Keith Starrett, weighing a Mississippi lawsuit challenging the law; District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington; and District Judge Michael Schneider, [...

Turner Sentenced for Threats on Judges

Posted on December 29, 2010
Internet radio host and conservative blogger Harold Turner, convicted in August of threatening the lives of three federal appeals court judges, was sentenced recently to 33 months in prison. Turner was convicted at this third trial on the charges. At his sentencing this month, he maintained he was innocent and lambasted U...

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 28, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: From Arizona, there are reports of murmurs in the legislature about a possible move to restore direct election of judges for the state Supreme Court, the state Court of Appeals and the superior courts in Maricopa and Pima counties, according to an Arizona Business Gazette article [...

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 21, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xBZKbOHhDg Justice Roderick Ireland took the oath of office as chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, becoming the first African-American to hold that post. “This is the right man at the right time,” said Governor Deval Patrick, according to a Boston Globe article...

AZ Public-Finance Law is Defended

Posted on December 21, 2010
Having a fair public financing system for political candidates is “more important than ever” given the Supreme Court’s ruling in January that unleashed corporate financing of elections. That’s a central argument of a New York Times editorial saying the high court should uphold an Arizona law that furnishes extra dollars to publicly financed candidates running [...

IA Urges Dismissal of Judicial Selection Lawsuit

Posted on December 21, 2010
Iowa is asking a federal court to throw out as “fatally flawed” a  lawsuit challenging part of the state’s merit-selection process for choosing state Supreme Court justices. The lawsuit challenges the makeup of the commission that screens candidates for Iowa?s Supreme Court and seeks to stop its seven lawyer members from helping to pick finalists [...

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