Tennessee Supreme Court Justices Survive GOP Attempt To Kick Them Out

[applegrove]

Tennessee Supreme Court Justices Survive GOP Attempt To Kick Them Out

by Amanda Terkel at the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/08/tennessee-state-supreme-court_n_5662097.html

"SNIP........................


Three Tennessee Supreme Court justices kept their seats Thursday night, surviving a well-funded Republican attempt to oust them for supposedly being too liberal.

Voters handed another eight-year term to Chief Justice Gary Wade and Justices Sharon Lee and Cornelia Clark on Thursday, with each winning about 56 percent of the ballots cast. All three were appointed by former Gov. Phil Bredesen (D), essentially giving Democrats a majority on the five-member court.

Under Tennessee's system, voters decide whether to retain justices rather than have them run for re-election against challengers. Generally, the contests aren't controversial; only once since the system was put in place in 1971 has a justice been replaced.

But this year, Republicans, spearheaded by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (R), tried to change the balance and create vacancies that the GOP governor would then be able to fill. Losing any one of the Democrat-appointed justices would have given Republicans a majority on the court.


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[Lars39]

2. Didn't see it in the article, but the true reason

the TN Supreme Court justices were targeted was because in TN, the SC appoints the Attorney General. The Republicans want a rightwinger in that position to complete their plans.
We dodged a huge world of hurt.
TN is the *only* state where the SC appoints the AG, afaik.

[Cha]

5. Wow.. well, thanks for the insider info, Lars

[applegrove]

7. Thanks.

[redstateblues]

3. The Koch brothers lost

Americans for Prosperity, the Koch Bros AstroTurf outfit,spent a bunch of money trying to flip the TN Supreme Court. They lost. Just about the only positive development from Tuesday's election.

[Cha]

4. HaHa! thanks for the good news, apple!

[applegrove]

9. Hope all is well in Hawaii.

[Cha]

10. Mahalo, apple! The Big Island got hit last night but Iselle seems to have

dissipated in her travels Northward. Now we have to watch out for the second one.. Julio.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Good.

Thanks for the thread, applegrove.

[babylonsister]

8. Yay!! Rec'd! nt