feed icon

A Supreme Mistake

By Kleinheider Posted on July 17, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Bill Hobbs points to a survey showing a surprising number of people who think that the shenanigans that surround elective politics should extend to the state Supreme Court:

Tennessee voters going to the polls next month may be surprised to find that, in addition to congressional and state legislative race primaries they are asked to vote in a handful of judicial races. Well, not really “races,” but “retention elections” for a handful of appointed state Supreme Court and appellate court judges. Meanwhile, a new national survey conducted by Ayres, McHenry & Associates finds strong public support for elected rather than appointed state Supreme Court justices: 75 percent for electing the justices, 21 percent for appointing them.

permalink

Comments

7 Responses to “A Supreme Mistake”

  1. Mickey writes
    July 17th, 2008 12:19 pm

    I would like to see them appointed by the State Senate.

  2. Rob Huddleston writes
    July 17th, 2008 12:29 pm

    ACK -

    How naive would one have to be to think that the shenanigans involved in the appointment process are any less than those in the regular political process in Tennessee?

    Cheers,

    Rob

  3. dan t writes
    July 17th, 2008 12:53 pm

    Mickey its better to let the people decide. If they want a Roy Moore or an algore we are going to burn to pieces type Justice then thats better than letting the senate or insiders pick.

  4. Sally smarty pants writes
    July 17th, 2008 1:39 pm

    Wow, the only political idea worse than directly electing Supreme Court Judges would be to elect the AG. Didn’t anyone listen in class? The role of the judiciary is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.

  5. LeftWingCracker writes
    July 17th, 2008 1:44 pm

    Good lord, I’m siding with Mickey here. It needs to be like the US procedure, with appointment by the Gov (even if it’s Phil) and confirmation by the Senate, even if Ramsey controls it.

  6. Mickey writes
    July 17th, 2008 3:31 pm

    RightWing Cracker, you are getting there. DanT, don’t you know Democracy is bad?

  7. Wintermute writes
    July 18th, 2008 1:46 pm

    Nah, we’ve let the plain meaning of the Tennessee Constitution be ignored too long as backs were scratched between the General Assembly and the courts.

    I met Justice Drowata at Bill Farris’ house a long time ago, and he was quite dignified on that visit to our end of the state. I don’t recall any “shenanigans” surrouinding those elections back then, but that may have been before Kleinheider was born.

Leave a Reply




Partly Cloudy

Recent Comments

The Collective

The Latest from NashvillePost.com

Archives