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5 - Tennessee

Unconstraining the Governor’s Choice of Appellate Judges

from Part I - Change as an Exercise in Partisan Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2020

Herbert M. Kritzer
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota School of Law
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Summary

Tennessee represents a new trend in changing judicial selection: eliminating the constraint that appointees must be recommended by a nominating commission that is the central element of the Missouri Plan. In the 1970s, the Tennessee legislature adopted a version of the Missouri Plan for the state’s appellate courts; however, the Democratic majority in the legislature quickly repealed it for the Tennessee Supreme Court. It was readopted for the Supreme Court in the early 1990s. The Missouri Plan withstood court challenges asserting that the legislature had exceeded its constitutional power by implementing that system without a constitutional amendment. However, dissatisfaction with the system continued, and the Missouri Plan started to come under attack. In 2014, the Republican-controlled legislature submitted a constitutional amendment to the voters that provided for gubernatorial appointment of any person with the legal qualifications, confirmation by the General Assembly, and retention through retention elections. The amendment was approved.

Type
Chapter
Information
Judicial Selection in the States
Politics and the Struggle for Reform
, pp. 99 - 124
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Tennessee
  • Herbert M. Kritzer
  • Book: Judicial Selection in the States
  • Online publication: 06 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108866941.008
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  • Tennessee
  • Herbert M. Kritzer
  • Book: Judicial Selection in the States
  • Online publication: 06 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108866941.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Tennessee
  • Herbert M. Kritzer
  • Book: Judicial Selection in the States
  • Online publication: 06 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108866941.008
Available formats
×