The Associated Press reports that special interest groups spend a lot of dollars on judicial races. In response to what is likely to be a further escalation of the phenomenon, the American Judges Association will be hosting a symposium in Nashville, Tennessee on May 17-18, 2012 on how judges can respond to this threat to the independence of the judiciary.
An excerpt from the AP story:
Interest groups pumped millions of dollars into state judicial elections at unprecedented levels around the country in the last election cycle, a trend that threatens to undermine the impartiality of judges, a report issued Thursday said.
Political parties and advocacy groups working independently from the candidates are accounting for a greater share of spending on judicial elections. Such independent expenditures accounted for $11.5 million, or nearly 30 percent, of the money spent in the 2009-2010 election cycle. That’s up more than 60 percent from the 2005-06 election cycle.
That growth helps explain the nasty tone of some judicial elections. While candidates ran mostly positive advertisements, interest groups accounted for three out of every four attack ads, said the report, which was compiled by three organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
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