The World According to Oatney

The Kelsey Plan

Senator Brian Kelsey's (R-Germantown) judicial proposal isn't a bad idea on its face, but before we change the State Constitution, we ought to abide by it first:

We don't elect our judges, of course, but thanks in part to the efforts of the late former Lieutenant Governor John Wilder (D-Fayette County) we have what might be called "faux elections" where citizens vote yes or no on appointments made by a Judicial Nominating Commission that the majority of voters don't even know exist, so they are voting yes or no on judges who they also don't know. Our overlords at the State Capitol long ago decided that we were too stupid to choose our own judges, and the judges don't want to stand for election because many of them use the cover of impartiality to disguise the fact that they do not want to have to answer to voters for liberal activist appellate judges who issue rulings which not only fly in the face of the federal and State constitutions, but are simply not reflective of Tennessee political or legal tradition.

Labels: Conservatism, Elections, Local politics, Tennessee politics

posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:35 PM