CARSON CITY Justices of the Nevada Supreme Court questioned the argument that district judges in rural counties are facing such intense pressure in highly controversial cases that they should step aside. Justice Michael Douglas says every time a judge makes a ruling he creates a friend and an enemy. His...
Congress periodically engages in waves of "court-stripping," often to punish the courts for particular rulings on hot-button social issues.
Recent Fair-Courts Articles
Whenever I complain that the Michigan Supreme Court has become politicized, I always feel a little bit like the corrupt police prefect in Casablanca who was shocked -- shocked! to discover that gambling was rampant in his favorite casino. In truth, the courts have always been apolitical and nonpartisan in...
Committees evaluating the 62 Missouri judges seeking retention on the Nov. 2 ballot recommended Wednesday that just one be booted. St. Louis County Associate Circuit Judge Judy Draper received the only do not retain rating in a statewide judicial performance assessment required by the Missouri Supreme Court. Missouri Bar President...
An organization in Iowa is hard at work to get new faces on that state's highest court. An effort is under way to seat some new justices on the Iowa State Supreme Court, some 18 months after the court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. Bob Vander Plaats -- who...
Remember the infamous Lady Justice TV commercial portraying a justice peeking from under her blindfold to see bags of cash being dumped on her desk? Then-Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick, a Democrat, managed to win a third six-year term in 2000 despite the ad. Eleventh District Court of...
A second Republican justice on the Alabama Supreme Court has given campaign donations to Democratic candidates for the state's highest court. Republican Justice Champ Lyons said Wednesday he gave $1,000 each to Democrat Rhonda Chambers, a Birmingham attorney, and $1,000 to another Democrat, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mac Parsons. They...
The U.S. economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, nearly double the amount analysts had hoped and predicted. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.5 percent. As employers continue to cut back on employers, there is at least one segment of the economy that has job openings that remain open. According...
When the Hawaii State Bar Association board of directors rated Judge Katherine Leonard as unqualified to be chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court, it brought the organization's judicial review process into question. Many in the community thought the HSBA should have provided reasons for its decision. In separate commentaries,...
HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Senate Judiciary Committee members on Wednesday unanimously approved of Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice Mark Recktenwald's nomination for chief justice. Recktenwald is Lingle's second nominee to lead the state Judiciary. The state Senate voted against approving Katherine Leonard's nomination. The new nominee is expected to sail...
BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) The head of the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference says the appointment of a black woman over a white woman for a judgeship position is a racist act. Bishop Calvin Woods says he feels that the appointment of Elizabeth French, a black woman, over...
TOPEKA - Kansas moved ahead toward selecting a new state Supreme Court justice on Wednesday, while facing a federal lawsuit alleging that voters' rights are being violated because lawyers unfairly dominate the process. Nine lower-court judges and four attorneys hoping to fill the high-court vacancy met a noon deadline for...
Starting from the days of Brown v. Board of Education, through Roe v. Wade and up to a federal judge overruling Proposition 8 in California last month, many conservatives have viewed the courts with contempt. The term judicial activism is often thrown around, usually meant to convey some variation on...
James Bopp Jr., the attorney who brought a federal lawsuit against Hawaii's campaign finance law, said the law severely limits First Amendment rights to criticize the government and participate in political campaigns. It is a serious challenge. We do think it's a serious violation of the First Amendment, and that's...
Michigan is one of the top spenders when it comes to judicial elections, according to a Justice at Stake report released earlier this month. In the 2008 Michigan Supreme Court election, television advertising spending reached $3.6 million - more than four times the amount spent in 2006. Michigan ranked third...
Denver - The federal judge who halted most of a controversial Arizona immigration law dismissed a separate lawsuit Tuesday that had been filed by a Tucson police officer. The complaint by Martin Escobar was one of seven lawsuits filed in an attempt to nullify SB1070, which requires police officers to...
