October 31st, 2020
The importance of state supreme courts has never been more evident than in recent weeks as courts in state after state resolve disputes about the upcoming election. These decisions do not always fall along predictable partisan lines. In Texas, Republicans occupy all nine seats on the state Supreme Court, but … Continue reading
October 30th, 2020
North Carolina conducted partisan judicial elections for most of its history until 2004. The state was controlled by Democrats, and so partisan elections allowed the Democratic party to dominate the courts as well. Then in 2004, as Republicans became more successful in statewide elections, Democrats in the state legislature switched … Continue reading
October 27th, 2020
Judicial ethics prohibit candidates from stating how they would vote on specific cases–a necessary prohibition, since a judge needs to see the facts of a specific case, read the parties’ briefs, listen to arguments, and deliberate with his or her co-judges before rendering an opinion. However, judicial candidates do have … Continue reading
October 26th, 2020
Democrats have not had a majority on the Ohio Supreme Court for over thirty years; at one time, there was not a single Democrat on the seven-Justice court. Currently Republicans hold a 5-2 majority. This has a potential to change in the 2020 election, with two Republicans up for re-election. … Continue reading
October 24th, 2020
Louis Jacobson from Sabato’s Crystal Ball election site has written an excellent overview of ten competitive state supreme court elections. The article reviews the races in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, North Carolina, Nevada, Washington, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Minnesota.
October 21st, 2020
Texas has two high courts: one for civil cases (the Texas Supreme Court) and one for criminal cases (the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals). Currently, each of these courts has nine Republicans and no Democrats. The Texas Supreme Court has recently weathered allegations that it tends to rule in favor … Continue reading
October 9th, 2020
Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) waded into the state Supreme Court elections to urge her constituents to vote for the Democratic candidates in the upcoming state Supreme Court election. On a recent CNN interview (beginning at 3:50), Governor Whitmer criticized the current Court for “undermining” her COVID-19 orders on a “slim … Continue reading
October 6th, 2020
State Supreme Courts have been in the news even more than usual over the past twelve months given the extraordinarily high profile cases they are now dealing with. As states around the country enacted various COVID restrictions, many residents brought challenges to those restrictions based on their state constitution. In … Continue reading
October 2nd, 2020
Florida is one of the most diverse states in the country: only 53% of its population are white and non-Hispanic. In some ways, its supreme court reflects this diversity: at least three of its seven justices are Hispanic, and a former Hispanic Florida Supreme Court Justice, Barbara Lagoa, was on … Continue reading
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