Judge: “Sir, are you showing contempt for this court?”
Witness: “No, judge. I’m trying to conceal it.”
That’s an old legal joke but it’s relevant these days. Courts in some states are becoming electoral battlegrounds as politicians launch campaigns intended to ensure the election of judges whose decisions will reflect the “correct” ideology.
Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson survived a North Carolina primary earlier this month in which more than $1 million, much of it from out of state, was spent in a campaign against her, including one television ad that accused her of being insufficiently tough on child molesters. She faces another election later this year in which the manufactured criticism will likely be even more virulent.
Tennessee could be the next such battleground. Republicans in the Legislature are apparently planning a campaign to defeat three state Supreme Court justices in the Aug. 7 election, when Tennesseans will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on whether to retain them. The three justices — Chief Justice Gary Wade and Justices Sharon Lee and Cornelia Clark — are Democrats, hence their targeting by the GOP.