Alabama elects its judges
Many will recall Roy Moore, the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice removed from the bench nearly a decade ago for refusing to haul away a Ten Commandments monument outside the state Supreme Court building.
On Tuesday, in a remarkable comeback, Moore regained his old job as chief justice, defeating Jefferson County Circuit Judge Bob Vance. Moore captured 52 percent of the vote compared with Vance’s 48 percent. Election results can be viewed here.*
Democrat Vance and his wife each contributed $1,000 to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. The grateful Obama rewarded Vance’s wife, Joyce White Vance, with an appointment as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. In fact, Joyce Vance is so well regarded by the Obama administration that her investiture ceremony was attended by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Moore announced last year he was running for another term as chief justice. Although he faced two well-known and better-funded candidates — current Chief Justice Chuck Malone and former state Attorney General Charlie Graddick. Moore defeated them both without necessitating a Republican primary runoff.
In 2005 Moore authored the book, So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom.
Read more in the Birmingham News.
*H/T WHNT News 19.
I saw this in the news and was going to post it as a comment in another thread. By the time I got here, you had it up! Good job, “Seeing Red AZ”!
For those who think that the sky has fallen because of the elections, this should be proof positive that God is not “dead”! We need to press on, with even greater vigor, and not succumb to “all is lost” syndrome!
Election of judges are always ridiculed by the State Bar of Arizona, even as they tout what a glorious system of judicial selection we have. What we are never told is that the vast majority of our counties ELECT their judges, rather than employ the farcical merit select system. The judges hate the idea of running for election. They think it demeans them. The arguments they raise against elections always center on the unseemliness of fundraising, saying they would be raising money from the same lawyers who appear before them. There are sound arguments against that. For example, as much as many conservatives dislike the concept of “Clean Elections,” that type of concept is actually custom made for a judiciary based on elections. A specific dollar amount could be made available to the candidates and they could use it to actually face the citizens of the counties. Everyone knows the current retention system is a farce.
Good information and a great idea about having judicial candidates each be provided with the same amount (not more than $25,000 each). In today’s world, they can use the Internet to get their messages out. During election season, I go to numerous sites on my own, seeking information about candidates and issues.
The judges are not Gods. They can do what our other officials do. It works throughout all but three counties in our state. The longer this idea languishes, the more counties will be in the merit selection mix. Involvement is based on the population of the counties. Pinal County just entered this unholy alliance after the last census was released. This needs to be a ballot proposition ASAP, but it will need funding. The state bar will fight it every inch of the way. The only reason the judges went along with (failed) Prop. 115 was because they feared a worse scenario was in the wings.
Many counties and states elect their judges. Iowa voters recently dumped three of their Supreme Court Justices.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101103/NEWS09/11030390/Iowans-dismiss-three-justices
BRAVO!! So glad to see this good justice reinstated by the people of Alabama!
The U.S. Attorney’s job is a plum reward for party loyalty or money raised during the Presidential campaign. Prosecutorial skill is not a prerequisite. In fact, many U.S. Attorneys have no especially laudable prosecutorial skills. Here in Arizona we have witnessed a liberal political career that has hinged on Presidential appointments based in large part on party loyalty.
Janet Napolitano paid her political dues in 1991 by working as the attorney representing Anita Hill, trying her damnedest to keep conservative Clarence Thomas off the U.S. Supreme Court. Fortunately, she failed. However, those actions caught the attention of Bill Clinton who appointed her U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.
Napolitano used that position as a launching pad to run for AZ Attorney General, a post from which she springboarded to the Governor’s office. As AG, she spoke at the Democrat National Convention. She was an early Obama supporter. Ultimately he returned the favor by appointing her Secretary of Homeland Security.
Colorado is another state with which I have some familiarity. After Tom Strickland, a partner in a huge politically influential law firm lost his U.S. Senate race, Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. Attorney.
Republicans are no different. Troy Eid was appointed U.S. Attorney by George E. Bush. This post came through not long after Eid’s wife, Allsion, was appointed a Colorado Supreme Court Justice by the governor.
One small step forward for Good, and one giant step backward for Evil!
We’ll go door to door, town to town, if we must!
Have Courage!
Glad to hear the optimistic will to keep fighting, Sam. We have no other option.
Those who are giving up after Tuesday’s disappointing election results would never have survived the Revolutionary battles that enshrined our represenatative Republic. Caving to defeat, gives power to those who seek our destruction.
And thank goodness “eubykdisop” bounced right back and has been trying to pull all of us out of the dumper.
Thanks, ZOO! We’ll all get back in the saddle but the sooner the better! There’s a war to be won!
What is the FIRST post-election battle which Conservatives must engage? It is this:
“Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Jonathan Martin of Politico that “if we lose this election there is only one explanation — demographics.”
“If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts,” Graham said. “We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.”
The weak sisters in the Republican Party are going to interpret Romney’s loss as requiring a shift to the left. That, of course, is a bunch of bull and THAT is what we must immediately address! You will notice that there is not a word from Graham about PRINCIPLES! It is all about expediency and how to allegedly win elections. That is the WRONG direction and the greatest help to those on the left! You do not and cannot successfully steer a poltical party based upon “demographics” rather than principles.
I just love the way Graham, who refuses to disclose his sexual orientation, equates Conservatism with being “hard-ass”!