Madison County Retention Race Follows National Trend; All Retained Despite Opposition
From the Madison County Record
It wasn’t until just a few years ago that judicial retention races started to make front-page headlines.
In 2010, Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride faced, what was at that time, a rare occurrence for a judge running for retention: a coordinated and well-funded effort seeking to unseat him.
His race, which included ads from a political action committee accusing him of being soft on crime and having an anti-business position, is believed to be the second most expensive retention race in history.
While Kilbride and several other chief justices throughout the nation survived challenges to their retention bids, three Iowa Supreme Court justices lost their retention elections that same year after opponents of the court’s same-sex marriage ruling campaigned to oust the trio.
After the 2010 races, several judicial watchdog and good government groups, as well as judges themselves, expressed concern that the introduction of money and outside groups in retention elections would continue to plague the judiciary.
The trend appears to have continued in this election cycle with anti-retention campaigns and expensive television advertising, but Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice reports that all 25 high court justices up for retention this year in 13 states won voter approval in Tuesday’s election.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman secured far higher than the required 60 percent voter approval to be retained to another 10-year term earlier this week and she didn’t face any opposition.
On a local level, all four Madison County judges up for retention this year won their elections, despite a grassroots campaign aimed at ousting them from the bench.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Madison County Record
It wasn’t until just a few years ago that judicial retention races started to make front-page headlines.
In 2010, Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride faced, what was at that time, a rare occurrence for a judge running for retention: a coordinated and well-funded effort seeking to unseat him.
His race, which included ads from a political action committee accusing him of being soft on crime and having an anti-business position, is believed to be the second most expensive retention race in history.
While Kilbride and several other chief justices throughout the nation survived challenges to their retention bids, three Iowa Supreme Court justices lost their retention elections that same year after opponents of the court’s same-sex marriage ruling campaigned to oust the trio.
After the 2010 races, several judicial watchdog and good government groups, as well as judges themselves, expressed concern that the introduction of money and outside groups in retention elections would continue to plague the judiciary.
The trend appears to have continued in this election cycle with anti-retention campaigns and expensive television advertising, but Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice reports that all 25 high court justices up for retention this year in 13 states won voter approval in Tuesday’s election.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman secured far higher than the required 60 percent voter approval to be retained to another 10-year term earlier this week and she didn’t face any opposition.
On a local level, all four Madison County judges up for retention this year won their elections, despite a grassroots campaign aimed at ousting them from the bench.
Read more in our daily News Update...