Judicial Elections and Money

We reported here about the ILR's ranking of each state's "lawsuit climate."  A new report from a group called Justice at Stake may help explain why a particular state's "lawsuit climate" is the way it is.  The report documents "the spread of special interest pressure" on judicial elections.  NPR's Nina Totenberg writes this story and says that "business interests spend twice as much money on state high-court elections as all other groups combined, including lawyers."  Here are the other key findings of the report and Sandra Day O'Connor's take on the trend.    

--Counseller