Thoughts on the Judicial Primary

We’re just past the March 2018 primary. Before the election, Vote for Judges received about 55,000 unique visitors with about 100,000 viewed/downloaded pages. The evaluations collected by Vote for Judges were aggregated through a number of ballot reference websites, like Ballot Ready. It’s great to...
April 5, 2018

Judicial Elections, Ethics Rules and the Ongoing Impact of Campaign Financing

The Tennessee Rules for judicial election campaign conduct are considered an excellent model for Supreme Court rules in jurisdictions that elect judges. In early December, the Tennessee Supreme Court amended the provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct regarding judges and judicial candidates’ ele...
January 4, 2016

SCOTUS Ruling on Judicial Campaign Ethics Rules

Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers were invited to join an amicus brief filed in Williams-Yulee v. the Florida Bar, examining whether a rule of judicial conduct that prohibits candidates for judicial office from personally soliciting campaign funds violates the First Amendment. The...
April 29, 2015

State Farm, Judicial Elections, Integrity and Recusal

In 2011, Chicago Appleseed, with assistance from pro bono attorneys at DLA Piper filed an amicus brief in the Illinois Supreme Court case, Avery v. State Farm. We took no position on the merits of the case, which involved a consumer dispute over replacement parts for insured cars damaged in crashes,...
March 10, 2015

Merit Selection and Judicial Elections

With oral arguments in Williams-Yulee before the Supreme Court earlier this year, attention has once again focused on the impact of money in judicial campaigns. The question of how judges can remain impartial looms large when judges must stand for general election or receive a sufficient number of v...
January 29, 2015
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