Free Republic

After the State Supreme Court here stunned the nation by making this the first state in the heartland to allow same-sex marriage, Iowa braced for its sleepy judicial elections to turn into referendums on gay marriage. The three Supreme Court justices on the ballot this year are indeed the targets of a well-financed campaign to oust them. But the effort has less to do with undoing same-sex marriage — which will remain even if the judges do not — than sending a broader message far beyond this state’s borders: voters can remove judges whose opinions they dislike. Around the country,...

The fallout is already coming from this year's Supreme Court Caperton decision on judicial bias, and it isn't good. A new rule on judicial recusal in Michigan shows how the decision could expose nearly every judge to charges of prejudice. In Caperton v. Massey, the Supremes set out a new standard requiring judges to recuse themselves if there is a "probability of bias" in a case. That was a marked departure from historical standards, which required a judge to step off primarily when he had a direct financial interest. Under the new rule, created by the Michigan Supreme Court to...

A group of judges, political officials and lawyers, led by the retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, has begun a campaign to persuade states to choose judges on the basis of merit, rather than their ability to win an election. As a state legislator in the 1970s, Justice O’Connor helped Arizona create a merit selection system for judges. She is now chairwoman of the O’Connor Judicial Selection Initiative, announced this month by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, to help make judges more than “politicians in robes,” as she has...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A conservative group has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to throw out a Kentucky rule that bars judges and challengers from committing themselves on topics that may come before them. The Family Foundation of Kentucky, which opposes gay marriage and abortion rights, says the judicial canon infringes on the free-speech rights of citizen groups to survey judges and inform the public. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 23 in U.S. District Court. It says that most of the 28 judicial candidates on the ballot statewide this year who responded to a survey sent out by the Family Foundation...

Supreme Court Justice Esther Tomljanovich wanted so much to influence who would get her seat on the state's most powerful court that she stepped down a few months before her term ended in 1998 so the governor could appoint her replacement, rather than leave it to the voters. Then she had a talk with Gov. Arne Carlson and suggested he choose a trial judge. Weeks after that conversation, Carlson stood on the lawn of the governor's residence with a string quartet and champagne and named Russell A. Anderson, a 16-year northern Minnesota trial judge, to the Supreme Court. Carlson said...

<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Judicial election campaigns in Minnesota and around the country will feel a lot more like other political contests, under a ruling Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court in a Minnesota case.</p> <p>The 5-4 decision struck down a Minnesota rule limiting what judicial candidates may tell voters.</p>

Greg Wersal laughed happily on the phone today after hearing he had won a long-fought battle over free speech for judicial candidates. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down limits on what some judicial candidates may tell voters in the case initiated by Wersal, a 46-year-old Golden Valley attorney. "I'm elated," said the three-time state Supreme Court candidate. "I think it's fantastic." The Supreme Court agreed with Wersal that Minnesota's strict limits on speech amounted to an unconstitutional gag order on judicial candidates. Most states keep candidates from divulging their positions on issues that might come before their court. Minnesota is...