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What we have been hearing for a couple of months is now official: Supreme Court Justice Patti Smith will not run for re-election.
We know Republican Kelli Wise intends to run from her seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals. It’s easy to imagine that Democrat Deborah Bell Paseur will jump in. Paseur’s name had been mentioned for the vacant legislative seats in the Florence area, but indications are that she prefers to stay in the judicial branch. Paseur lost a Supreme Court race to Republican Greg Shaw in 2008.
Other possibilities for this race?
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Doubtful that Paseur runs again. Some folks are going to pipe up and trash her name, but as much as she might be a strong candidate, she’s run and lost in two straight cycles. Running statewide in Alabama is exhausting, if nothing else. I would be shocked if she doesn’t sit this one out.
I hear Doug McElvey, former President of the state Bar Association, is going to run against Wise in the Republican primary. He might not have the political chops she does, but if intellect and merit mattered in these elections he’d beat her hands down.
Deborah Paseur, the Judicial Shorty Price?
What are the odds James Anderson considers this race? He ran for the Court in 02 and had a respectable showing against See, the darling of the BCA. Wise will be a weak candidate, and if McElvey runs and beats Wise, he will be low on funds.
All that is to say that if Anderson wants a good statewide race, this might be a bit more of a sure thing that AG. Besides, if he acts fast, he might be able to stave off primary opposition. Of course, he has not acted fast enough in the AG race or in HD73, so it remains to be seen if he could act fast enough here.
Actually Anderson probably has a better shot at AG.
King is a walking dead man but will make the primary ugly and Strange does have a blue blood problem.
Wise will be a very attractive candidate.
It would amaze me if the people of Alabama would elect Kelli Wise. She is a judge who never practiced law. It would be like Alabama hiring the equipment manager as the head coach. Surely there is a candidate out there who has actually been in a courtroom, tried cases and understands the impact of the law. Plus her husband is a trial lawyer and complete buffoon.
Wise’s husband is not the one running.
What kind of litigation experience does Sue Bell Cobb the Chief Justice have?
Now I do agree it is ideal if a Judge has experience practicing law.
But again Strange and King are strangers to litigation.
And Kelly is running after being a state wide elected judge for 10 years.
Which puts her way above Troy King.
And again the husband stuff is nonsense and you should not go there.
I’ll agree that the trash talk about Wise’s husband is out of line, but the fact is that her 10 years of experience haven’t shown her to be a very competent jurist. This sets her apart from Sue Bell Cobb or Greg Shaw, who like her sat on the Court of Criminal Appeals before running for the high court.
How about Dan King?
Just kidding. But can you imagine?
Dan King? Why not just put a gambling boss on the court and cut out the middle man.
How is Wise less than Shaw, its the same background staff attorney and then Court of Criminal Appeals.
Only difference Wise has been on the court longer than Shaw.
Are you attacking some opinion she wrote?
PrinceLib, exctly to whom would Wise “be a very attractive candidate”? She is a calculating pol who cares less about following the law and more about how her judicial decisions will affect her political career. At the 2006 investiture ceremony, she thanked, first and foremost, Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, “who taught [her] the meaning of public service,” and said that, “with all due respect to the new Chief Justice” (had just spoken about the need for nonpartisan judicial races), she would never run for reelection without “Republican” by her name. Wise’s name at the bottom of an opinion was always a red flag up at the Supreme Court that a reversal was imminent. She is probably the furthest thing in my mind to an acceptable candidate, and anything but “attractive.”
In fairness to Paseur, she is a decent judge and a better than average candidate, but there is no reason to think she would win this race absent a Democratic landslide year. She would do well to wait for an appointment at the state or federal level. Anderson would be a better fundraiser but let’s face it: “keep Alabama safe for business” (the R message) beats give trial lawyers a fair shot” (the De message). Democrats will continue to lose these races until they are willing to go negative.
#12, go negative??? Where were you during Paseur’s Campaign last year? If that wasn’t negative, what is?
Agree #13, paseur went negative, positive and in between but fell short. Even tried to bring in back up with a spokeswoman that failed miserably. Bottom line, Paseur went negative, she just didn’t connect with her shots.
Judge Kelli Wise is one of the best campaigners on the circuit. Judge Wise is a serious minded soul who balances out her judicial conservatism with good sense and a genuine concern for people. I believe that Kelli Wise would make an excellent addition to the Alabama Supreme Court.
I also hope that we re-elect Justices Mike Bolin and Tom Parker–both fine men!
Yeah, Wise and Parker are both excellent judges and a credit to their profession.
I hear that Birmingham appellate lawyer Rhonda Chambers intends to run against Tom Parker.
Judge Bill Thompson on the court of civil appeals would be a much better choice.
I talked to a close friend of mine who is a DA in Baldwin County. Although he is a die-hard conservative Republican, he offered that all lawyers make more money when Trial Lawyers are elected to the state’s appelate courts. I wonder how many lawyers, Democrat or Republican, would offer comment.
Anon 17, you are correct about Rhonda Pitts Chambers. The more interesting tale is that she is being recruited to run against Parker by Republicans, even though she is a Democrat. Those Repubs are disappointed that the BCA won’t front any money for a primary challenger for Parker, and they would rather have a level-headed Dem that a loose-cannon Repub.
I think that fact alone may speak to John Killan’s comment about Justice Parker. And, John, if you are looking for another Justice like Parket, Wise may well be an “excellent addition to the Alabama Supreme Court.”
In about 60 days, the Supreme Court will release the statistics reflecting work completed by the individual Justices. Any taxpayer that reads those statistics should be outraged at how little work Parker has done for his government salary. He is a disgrace to the court and should be thown out by the voters. A qualified Republican should run against him in the primary so that voters will have two good choices in November.
Tom Parker is the worst justice I have seen in my 30+ years of following the Supreme Court. His lack of productivity alone is enough to want to replace him. Add to that the fact that he is one strange cat, and it is no question that the Republicans should look for a qualified opponent for him.
Republicans need to stop acting like the ugly guy or girl that can’t get a date. There is no need to embrace everyone that will say he or she is a Republican. There are too many good people out there for that. It is time to boot the bad ones.
Thompson? A better choice – talking about a guy who is just a puppet for the folks who give him money.
And does he have the litigation experience? No!
Parker is the most independent and free of special interest influence of Justices.
That is why some BCA types who prefer a puppet would like someone else.
And the number of opinions released does not reflect how much work was done.
Some of the Justices just rubberstamp what one side wants and spend little time crafting the opinion.
PrinceLib, you talk like you know how the work of judging is done. If that is the case, then you would know that opinions released have a direct correlation to cases decided, which is EXACTLY what a judge is hired to do. Granted, some judges can spend their time writing special concurrences or dissents and not decide a single case, but that is not where Parker spends his time. No, Parker has a penchant for traveling around the country and lecturing on the role of God in the courts, a fine thing to do if you are caught up with your work.
princeliberty sounds like a Roy Moore follower.
Trial lawyers elected to appeals courts make more under the money table than anyone can imagine. Also dont forget their State Retirement benefits. If Roger Bedford had slid in his act acouple of years ago there would be 2 past judges benefiting in the 6 digits for very few years of service. Bet these party swappers (where most contributions are) will seek trial court elections 2010 unsuccessfully again for the PAC Contributions must offset their State Retirement they didnt get!!
Judge Mac Parsons is in it.