In Defense of Judicial Elections

Abstract

his past fall, Alabamians re-elected three incumbent state supremecourt justices, elected one newassociate justice and ushered in a newera electing this state’s first female chiefjustice.With these elections behind us,and in the wake of spent campaign coffers,deteriorating roadside campaignsigns and tired volunteers, an old issuehas surfaced once again within theAlabama State Bar: Should this state continueelecting judges, or should we, as astate, choose a new method to put appellatejudges onto our highest courts?This past fall, Alabamians re-electedthree incumbent state supremecourt justices, elected one newassociate justice and ushered in a newera electing this state’s first female chiefjustice. With these elections behind us,and in the wake of spent campaign coffers,deteriorating roadside campaignsigns and tired volunteers, an old issuehas surfaced once again within theAlabama State Bar: Should this state continueelecting judges, or should we, as astate, choose a new method to put appellatejudges onto our highest courts?