We’re still waiting for Governor Bredesen to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court. He’s been slow to do so because the system is flawed, according to both liberal and conservative policy groups.
The American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society held a debate last night that focused on the controversy.
Since the 1970s, a selection commission has given the governor a panel of three candidates to choose from. The judge who’s appointed to the vacancy is then put up for a retention election by Tennessee voters.
Conservatives suggest the state constitution mandates popular elections. The counter point is that judicial seats should not be subject to politics.
Joseph Woodruff was part of the debate along with former Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers and former legal counsel for the state’s Republican Party, Maclin Davis. Woodruff, who was legal counsel to Fred Thompson’s Senate campaign, says politics are bound to play a role.
“The problem is that the statute creating the selection commission provides a franchise to special interest groups who have a stake in the composition of the judicial branch to act as the gatekeepers for who gets to serve.”
Woodruff calls the process dysfunctional and the sole reason the Supreme Court has been short one justice since September. Governor Bredesen rejected a panel of candidates because he wanted more qualified minorities. He filed a lawsuit after the second panel included one candidate from the first. The selection commission replaced the name with another last month.
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