PARTISAN JUSTICE

As election challenges have increased dramatically since Bush v. Gore, courts now are asked more than ever to resolve these highly charged partisan battles. Understanding how judges decide these election disputes is important in its own right - these increasingly common election cases regularly settle partisan fights over election rules and go a long way in deciding which party's candidate wins office. Just as importantly, though, understanding election cases reveals deeper problems with judicial partisanship in today's new era of judicial politics. The major parties and other powerful political actors now routinely spend millions of dollars in state court elections because state judges decide a full spectrum of cases ranging from environmental and consumer protections to criminal law to reproductive and voting rights. The increasing cost of elections escalates pressures on judges to rule in ways that help them to raise campaign funds from their partisan sponsors and protect their re-..

Primary location: Washington United States