judicial elections

July 31, 2019 - A recent study found that judges in North Carolina and two other states hand down longer sentences during their re-election campaigns. It also confirmed that judges in some states treat black defendants more harshly, with the disparity most pronounced in Alabama. 

July 15, 2019 - Across the South, voting rights advocates argue that judicial elections violate the Voting Rights Act by depriving communities of color of representation on state courts. Federal courts are hearing lawsuits in Arkansas and Alabama, where the state supreme courts are all white.

May 23, 2019 - Political watchdogs have unearthed new details about the funding of the shadowy secret-money group that promoted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation is the reason so many Republican-controlled state legislatures are rushing to pass abortion bans. The group is also spending big to move state courts to the right.

March 28, 2019 - After the state legislature failed to revamp a judicial voting district found to be racially discriminatory, a federal court has picked a technical advisor from California to do the job instead. Will the non-white voters of Terrebonne Parish finally get a fair shot at electing a judge of their choice next year?

February 15, 2019 - Groups funded by Big Oil and other special interests are reviving a scheme — refined by a Koch brothers associate in the 1990s — to evaluate judges in Louisiana and Mississippi based on whether they rule in favor of corporations. It's the latest effort to stack the judiciary.

November 9, 2018 - From Arkansas to North Carolina to Texas, courts in the South will look much different following the election of more diverse and progressive candidates.

October 19, 2018 - A new ad from Republican Justice Barbara Jackson raises ethical questions due to its partisan tone and stoking of conservative voters' fears about immigrants. Jackson has also shared alt-right followers' tweets and raised First Amendment concerns by blocking a Twitter follower for pointing out that she was retweeting a racist account.

October 11, 2018 - The same secret-money group that pushed the U.S Senate to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh is dominating spending in judicial elections in Arkansas and elsewhere in the South. In some states, justices are looking to be re-elected with the help of campaign cash from corporations and law firms that have business before the courts.