Huge Defeat for JAIL 4 Judges
Fair Courts E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Molly McDonough and Debra Cassens Weiss
Source: ABAJournal.com
Date: 11/9/2006
Article reports that last week voters rejected two ballot initiatives that critics said threatened judicial independence. Also, in the 12 Supreme Court races in which a man and a woman faced off, the female candidates won two-thirds of the elections. In South Dakota JAIL 4 Judges, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have abolished judicial immunity, lost by a margin of 90-10. In Colorado, voters rejected Amendment 40, which would have imposed term limits on appellate judges. In Kentucky William McAnulty Jr., who was appointed to the Supreme Court in June, became the first black elected to serve on the court, and Mary Noble defeated incumbent Justice John Roach to become the first woman on the court since 2004. In North Carolina two incumbent female justices retained their seats and a third woman won election. In the most expensive race in the nation, Sue Bell Cobb defeated Alabama incumbent Chief Justice Drayton Nabers.