Press Releases

  • TV Ad Spending By Special Interest Groups Tops $1 Million in Wisconsin Judicial Election

    With one week to go before Election Day, spending on television advertising has reached nearly $1.4 million in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Of this total, approximately 82 percent was spent by non-candidate special interest groups.

    March 29, 2011
    Fair Courts

  • Special Interest Group Outspends Candidates on TV in Wisconsin Judicial Election

    The conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth has spent more on television advertising than all candidates combined in the primary election for a seat on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. Overall, the Club for Growth accounted for $321,000 of the approximately $461,000 spent on TV ads, according to data accumulated by the Brennan Center for Justice.

    February 15, 2011
    Fair Courts

  • 2010 Judicial Elections Increase Pressure on Courts, Reform Groups Say

    Election Day 2010 brought a new round of special interest money, nasty ads and wedge issue politics into America’s courtrooms, breaking several spending records and spreading costly, ideological hardball campaigns into new states.

    November 3, 2010
    Fair Courts

  • TV Spending Surges in State Supreme Court Races

    Spending on state Supreme Court TV ads has exploded nationally as Election Day nears, with $3.3 million being spent in the week between Oct. 21 and Oct. 27.  The TV binge has raised total ad spending to near $13 million for the 2009-10 election cycle, with business and conservative groups outspending lawyers and unions in every major state except Illinois.

    October 29, 2010
    Fair Courts

  • Special Interest Spending Soars in Illinois High Court Race

    Fueled by the same groups that created the most expensive high court election ever in 2004, an Illinois Supreme Court race has become the nation’s most expensive one-candidate retention election in this decade. TV spending also cracked the $1 million mark in Ohio, and TV ads began airing in two contentious races in Michigan.

    October 19, 2010
    Fair Courts

  • Judicial Elections 2010: More States Join Trend of Costly Court Races

    A Democratic Illinois Supreme Court justice, faced with a potentially costly reelection challenge, has spent more on TV ads than any other candidate or group in this year’s state high-court elections, according to data compiled by a reform group, while a Chamber of Commerce group in Ohio last week launched an ad campaign supporting two Republican candidates.

    October 8, 2010
    Fair Courts

  • New Web Site Details Spending, TV Ads for 2010

    In the weeks leading up to the November 2010 elections, the Brennan Center’s Buying Time series will examine the sponsorship, content and costs of televised state Supreme Court campaign ads, and will feature real-time updates on TV ad spending and links to every judicial ad to air this fall.

    September 23, 2010
    Fair Courts

  • Is Justice for Sale?

    New York–Spending on state Supreme Court elections has more than doubled in the past decade, from $83.3 million in 1990-1999 to $206.9 million in 2000-2009, and deep-pocketed special interests play a dominant role in choosing state jurists, according to a report released today.

    August 16, 2010
    Fair Courts
    Money in Politics
    Public Financing

  • Brennan Center, Justice at Stake Urge Recusal Reform in Michigan

    Citing rising spending on judicial elections and a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, two national legal affairs groups — Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice — today urged the Michigan Supreme Court to strengthen the state's rules governing when judges must step aside in cases involving campaign supporters.

    July 31, 2009
    Fair Courts

  • Supreme Court Reverses Decision in Caperton v. Massey

    Major victory for the Rule of Law and Due Process with Supreme Court's 5–4 vote.

    June 8, 2009
    Fair Courts

Pages