Tennessee Governor Bill HaslamBy the end of the week Gov. Bill Haslam plans to appoint three replacement judges to a five-member special Supreme Court to address the constitutionality of Tennessee’s judicial selection scheme.
The new appointments became necessary when three of the original judges Haslam chose to hear the case wisely recused themselves on Aug. 31. The recusals came after it was discovered that all three men — including former Chief Justice William “Mickey” Barker of Signal Mountain — have ties to a special interest lobbying group called Tennesseans for Fair and Impartial Courts. The outfit has lobbied the General Assembly heavily to uphold the current system of judicial appointment, which is patently unconstitutional.
Haslam, of course, knew of the biases of the judges he chose to appoint to the special Supreme Court, but selected them anyway. Perhaps he didn’t think anyone would notice. Maybe he didn’t care. At any rate, he didn’t hesitate to stack the special Supreme Court with judges who have fought to disregard the state constitution’s requirement that judges be elected in the same manner as other political officials. It’s obvious the governor wanted to control the outcome of the case before it was even heard.
But why would Haslam rig the court to ensure that the current system of judicial selection would be upheld? It seems there are two reasons — one sensible, but misguided, and another totally self-serving.
Haslam has professed his discomfort with contested, partisan state judicial elections, which, although guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution, have not taken place in a generation thanks to a partisan power grab that circumvented the constitution and voters’ rights.