Nashville's Online Source for Daily News
Search Site
Ramsey wants changes to see more conservative judges
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey wants to change how members to a powerful judicial panel are appointed in an effort to put more conservatives on the bench.
And Ramsey feels strongly enough about it that he may be willing to let the panel, called the Judicial Selection Commission, expire if he doesn’t get his way.
“That’s where I’d be,” Ramsey (R-Blountville) said.
Under the state’s system for appointing judges, the Judicial Selection Commission makes recommendations to the governor to choose among to fill an opening, such as on the Tennessee Supreme Court.
The issue revolves on how members of the Judicial Selection Commission are appointed. Currently, the speakers of the House and Senate appoint members, most of whom have to be recommended by an interest group, such as the trial lawyers or district attorney associations.
Ramsey thinks having to choose among nominees from the respective interest groups is “too restrictive.”
“I feel like, as the speaker of the Senate, I ought to be able to appoint who I want to this, to the Judicial Selection Commission,” Ramsey told reporters Thursday. “And I’m going to hold firm on this.”
Currently, Ramsey and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D-Covington) each get to make eight appointments to the Judicial Selection Commission. A 17th member to the panel is a joint appointment between the two speakers.
Naifeh is OK with how the commission is appointed, Ramsey said. Naifeh wasn’t available for comment.
Traditionally, trial lawyers and criminal defense attorneys have been big campaign donors to Democratic candidates.
Both groups, the Tennessee Association for Justice, a group formerly known as the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers get to have three members on the Judicial Selection Commission, one for each grand division of the state.
Ramsey acknowledged that the “goal” of the move was to “get more judges that may be more politically aligned with the conservatives.”
Gov. Phil Bredesen battled the Judicial Selection Commission in court last year, ultimately winning a lawsuit about the selection commission repeatedly nominating Houston Gordon, a Covington trial lawyer who once chaired the Tennessee Democratic Party and won the party’s nomination to challenge then Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) in 1996.
Bredesen has also battled the commission on diversity, arguing the panel had not nominated enough minorities to choose among.
Lydia Lenker, Bredesen’s press secretary, said the governor was traveling Thursday and his opinion on Ramsey’s move wasn’t readily available.
The entire issue of the Judicial Selection Commission could become a stumbling block between the House and the Senate as the legislative session enters into what lawmakers hope is its final month.
The nominating panel expires this year without legislative action, and Ramsey indicted he may let the Judicial Selection Commission’s legal authority expire, effective July 1, if he doesn’t have luck changing the appointment process.
If that occurred, the panel would have a one-year wind down before going out of existence.
Rep. Kent Coleman (D-Murfreesboro), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the state’s method for selecting judges “has worked” and shouldn’t be changed.
“Any move to promote agenda-specific judges to the court I think is ill-advised,” Coleman said, adding that the current political makeup of the Tennessee Supreme Court is mixed between Republicans, Democrats and Independents.
Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) said conservative trial lawyers like him have not traditionally been involved in making picks for the selection commission.
“I know plenty of conservative trial lawyers, you’re talking to one here, but we’re just not the ones who have been at the helm so to speak,” Norris said.
Besides the trial lawyers and the criminal defense attorneys having three members each on the nominating commission, the Tennessee Bar Association gets two, the District Attorney General’s Conference has three, and the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association can recommend one member.
Rounding out the 17-member Judicial Selection Commission, there are three non-lawyers, and one lawyer for the House speaker to appoint and another for the Senate speaker to appoint independently of any special interests.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Technorati
I guess conservatives like activist judges after all.
It would appear that Ramsay wants to introduce the divisive, destructive partisanship presently seen in Federal Judicial appointments into our system. Someone please tell him that our courts did not write and cannot reverse Roe v. Wade. Maybe he will calm down.
Ron wants people on the bench that will Interpret our state constitution as it is written & not as a living document.If you want something changed in the constitution it can be done through the proper channels.
Yeah, let's get more conservative judges like our conservative state legislature, then we can run all of the educated people out of the state leaving only ignorant rednecks....I love imdyinghere's comment that "activist" judges are considered bad when they don't agree with the far right wing, how hypocritical can you get.
There's a reason why "conservatives" don't get into the upper echelon of the judicial system or the legal profession.They are incompatible with the American justice system, which is by its very nature - liberal. Checks and balances, fairness, due process, equal opportunity, and justice are in direct opposition to modern conservatism. Conservatives allow their own personal beliefs and superstitions to outweigh the spirit of the law, the letter of the law, the common good, and the rights of the individual.This is why conservatives are somewhat derided amongst lawyers and judges and why they are underreprsented in the whole legal profession. They are not "built" to practice law in America and are - correctly - marginalized by their peers and by the judicial system.Conservative judges and lawyers are really a better fit for third-world countries (whose legal infrastructure is torn down or co-opted by big business) and dictatorships (where unjust law cannot be overruled). I'm more than happy to see conservative judges and lawyers sent to these places so they can prosper... they're doing far too much damage here.
lamons your state legislature is liberal no matter how you cut it.Until you get Jimmy Naifeh & the rest of the good old boy network out of office it's not going to change.
Without question, Ron Ramsey is a pathetic cretin, and he has admitted that he simply wants judges who are even MORE conservative than the conservatives who already occupy the state bench, which is an appalling desire. This doesn’t mean that he is incorrect about the selection process. I, too, question the domineering nature of the Judicial Selection Commission. I recommend that we change our procedure in Tennessee to emulate the federal system. The governor nominates judges, and the General Assembly (NOT just the State Senate) approves the nominees. Thus, we would have a stronger reason to elect thoughtful, deliberate governors.
Most of you are confused."Constructionist" judges interpret law, "Activist" judges rely on their opinion. By saying he wants more 'conservative' judges, Ramsey probably means he wants constructionist judges. I think his choice of words was wrong. No judge should ever rule from his/her OPINION, it is not their job. I think that's what Ramsey means. If you liberals are suggesting a judge should rule based on their opinion, that's when you have a breakdown of balance of power.