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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

TN Considering Electing Appellate and Supreme Court Judges

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Tuesday, April 7, 2009   

Nashville, TN – Electing judges is being judged a bad idea by the Tennessee Association for Justice. Today, a legislative hearing will be held to consider putting the state's appellate and Supreme Court justices on the ballot, rather than appointing them.

The judicial jobs are currently filled by the governor, from a list of candidates selected by a bipartisan commission. Daniel Clayton, president of the Tennessee Association for Justice, says the system, called the "Tennessee Plan," works well.

"It is one where all groups have an opportunity to weigh in on particular candidates. It's an excellent way to keep politics out of the equation."

In Clayton's view, the idea of electing judges could be dangerous, because it turns people seeking judicial seats into politicians - with obligations to those who fund their campaigns.

"It makes them go out and have to raise millions and millions of dollars, and there's no vetting process."

Clayton points out that the current system has twice been deemed constitutional, although those who support changing it believe the public should have the right to fill such important positions.



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