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37-590: Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature , the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the Tennessee Attorney General . When Tennessee was admitted as a state on June 1, 1796, it didn't have a provision for a judicial branch of government in its constitution. The Tennessee legislature created a Superior Court with three judges who were elected by

74-415: A list of candidates considered best qualified. The governor then has sixty days to select a candidate from the list. If the governor does not make a selection within sixty days, the commission makes the selection. At the next general election after the completion of one year's service, the judge must stand in a retention election . If a majority votes against retention, the judge is removed from office, and

111-641: A small, insular group who have their interests. They have a lot to add to the process, but we don't think they should dominate the process - (and they) are in no way accountable to Missourians." Professor Stephen Ware of the University of Kansas wrote about the Missouri Plan, "As the bar is an elite segment of society, states that give lawyers more power than their fellow citizens are rightly described as elitist ." Ware continued: ...even commission systems have democratic legitimacy insofar as members of

148-593: A system of lower courts. This court had three justices. The third Tennessee State Constitution , adopted in 1870, called for five justices, no more than two of whom may come from any one of the state's three Grand Divisions ( East Tennessee , Middle Tennessee , and West Tennessee ) in order to prevent regional bias. For the same purpose, the court is required to convene alternately in Nashville , Knoxville , and Jackson . In recent years, its provision has been regarded as permissive rather than restrictive. Therefore,

185-571: A vacancy) or by winning a partisan election. Either way, the justice would have to stand for re-election during the next general state election. In 1971, a statute modified this process at the appellate level. Under a modified version of the Missouri Plan , appellate judges (including supreme court justices) would be subjected only to a "Yes/No" retention vote rather than to any challenge from an electoral opponent. Thus, it became impossible to become an appellate judge without being appointed by

222-640: Is by popular election. 43 states have an elected attorney general. Elected attorneys general serve a four-year term, except in Vermont, where the term is two years. Seven states do not popularly elect an attorney general. In Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming, the attorney general is appointed by the governor. The attorney general in Tennessee is appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court for an eight-year term. In Maine,

259-495: Is this core that deprives the Missouri Plan of democratic legitimacy. Former Missouri State legislator and lawyer, Elbert Walton , has focused on the plan's effect on African Americans. "It is unfair that lawyers elect judges ... It disenfranchises people and it especially disenfranchises black people." At a press conference in February, 2008, Walton accused Missouri Bar President Charlie Harris, an African-American, of ignoring

296-661: The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan , also known as the merit plan , or some variation) is a method for the selection of judges . It originated in Missouri in 1940 and has been adopted by many states of the United States . Similar methods are used in some other countries. Under the Plan, a non-partisan commission reviews candidates for a judicial vacancy. The commission then sends to the governor

333-626: The trial court , it hears only appeals of civil cases which have been heard by the Court of Appeals , and of criminal cases that have been heard by the Court of Criminal Appeals . The Tennessee Supreme Court was created through the Constitutional Convention of 1834 and replaced the Tennessee Court of Errors and Appeals . The method by which Tennessee's supreme court justices are selected has changed significantly over

370-500: The 50 U.S. states , of the federal district , or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney general serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those of the United States Department of Justice . The most prevalent method of selecting a state's attorney general

407-666: The Governor can make an appointment after receiving a report from JNE. For appellate court positions, the Governor submits the nomination to the Commission on Judicial Appointments, consisting of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General, and the presiding justice of the affected Court of Appeal district (or the most senior presiding justice for Supreme Court nominations). The CJA holds a public meeting, and receives

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444-698: The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, a nonpartisan judicial commission reviews applications, interviews candidates and selects a judicial panel. For the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, the Appellate Judicial Commission makes the selection. It is composed of three lawyers elected by members of the Missouri Bar (the organization of all lawyers licensed in this state), three citizens selected by

481-474: The Missouri Plan's effect on black people. Walton noted that no African American had ever been elected to one of the Missouri Bar's three slots on the Appellate Judicial Commission, though many have been appointed judges, and suggested that Mr. Harris "ought to be ashamed of himself" for supporting such a plan. Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee has criticized that state's version of the Missouri Plan for similar reasons. The Wall Street Journal wrote "If

518-573: The United States' constitution and laws as well as the state's, they may decline to defend a state law in federal preemption case. The current party composition of the state attorneys general is: The composition for the District of Columbia and the 5 populated territories is: Rows of the attorney general table below are color coded indicating the political party of the office holder. Missouri Plan The Missouri Plan (originally

555-517: The attorney general is appointed by the governor. In Puerto Rico, the attorney general is officially called the secretary of justice, but is commonly known as the Puerto Rico attorney general. Many states have passed term limits limiting the selection to 2 consecutive terms (9 states); 2 terms maximum (4 states), but 33 states still have no term limits. State attorneys general enforce both state and federal laws. Because they are sworn to uphold

592-539: The attorney general is elected by the state Legislature for a two-year term. The District of Columbia and two U.S. territories, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, elect their attorneys general for a four-year term. 2014 marked the first year that the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands held an election for the office. In American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands,

629-486: The chief judge of the court of appeals district in which the circuit is located, plus two lawyers elected by the bar and two citizens selected by the governor. All of the lawyers and citizens must live within the circuit for which they serve the judicial commission. In line with other reforms urged during the Progressive Era , legal scholars put forth ideas in the first decades of the 1900s to reduce or remove

666-587: The constitutionality of the Modified Missouri Plan had, "like Esau, sold [their] precious birthright, equality and freedom for a mess of potage" and had made the judicial branch subordinate to the legislative branch. Partially as a result of that decision, the statute was revised in 1974 to remove Tennessee Supreme Court justices from the plan, yet a 1994 revision to what was now called the " Tennessee Plan " extended it once again to supreme court justices. The case of DeLaney v. Thompson challenged

703-708: The constitutionality of the Tennessee Plan but rather remanded the case on a technicality. In 2014, Tennessee voters approved an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution, which codified the Tennessee Plan while adding to it a provision that gubernatorial appointments must be confirmed by the General Assembly. Only one member of the Tennessee Supreme Court has ever been removed under the Tennessee Plan. Former Justice Penny White

740-508: The court has met in other cities, such as Chattanooga , Kingsport , and Memphis , throughout the state as part of a legal education project for high school students called Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students (SCALES). SCALES has been instrumental in allowing over 36,000 high school students from over 540 high schools in Tennessee to see the court in action since 1995. The justices serve eight-year terms and can succeed themselves. The office of chief justice rotates among

777-484: The general assembly and functioned as both a trial court and an appellate court. In 1809, the Superior Court was abolished by the Tennessee legislature and a new Supreme Court of Error and Appeals , which only heard appellate cases, was established. In 1835, Tennessee adopted a new state constitution that established the judiciary an independent branch of government, which included the Supreme Court as well as

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814-519: The governor, and the chief justice , who serves as chair. Each of the three geographic districts of the Court of Appeals must be represented by one lawyer and one citizen member on the Appellate Judicial Commission. Each of the circuit courts in Clay , Greene , Jackson , Platte , and St. Louis Counties, and the city of St. Louis has its own circuit judicial commission. These commissions are composed of

851-434: The governor. The revised statute was subject to litigation. In the case of Higgins v. Dunn (1973), the Court held that the retention elections were constitutional, as the constitution specified only that judges must be elected, without precisely defining what kinds of elections the General Assembly must enact for that purpose. Justice Allison B. Humphries , in his dissent, opined that the supreme court justices approving

888-479: The justices. Justices are required to recuse themselves in cases in which they may have a personal interest; the whole court once had to step aside and a case be heard by a special court appointed by the governor, this occurring when the court itself became the subject of litigation , as described below. The Tennessee Supreme Court has no original jurisdiction . Other than in cases of worker's compensation , which have traditionally been appealed directly to it from

925-495: The method or a variant for the state supreme court . California uses a heavily modified version in which the Governor can theoretically nominate any California attorney who has practiced for ten years. But then the nominee must undergo an evaluation by the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) of the State Bar of California , which then forwards a nonbinding evaluation to the Governor. For superior court positions,

962-441: The nominating commission are appointed by popularly elected officials. Democratic principles are violated, however, when members of the commission are selected by 'a minority of the persons, i.e. lawyers in their area'. This, of course, is the core of the Missouri Plan – allowing the bar to select some of the commission and then declining to offset that bar power with confirmation by the senate or other popularly elected body. And it

999-508: The nonpartisan system. After Missouri adopted this method for selecting judges, several other states adopted it, either in full or in part. The plan was put forth by a committee chaired by Luther Ely Smith , "founder" of the Gateway Arch National Park . The Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan has served as a model for thirty-four other states that use merit selection to fill some or all judicial vacancies. 23 states use

1036-402: The politics of judicial selection into closer alignment with the ideological preferences of the bar." Fitzpatrick notes that "…if we are willing to accept the notions that lawyers care about the outcomes of judicial decisions and that these outcomes are correlated with judges' ideological preferences, then we might expect merit commissions to select judges who share the ideological preferences of

1073-501: The process starts anew. Otherwise, the judge serves out a full term. As of 2016, 38 states have a form of merit-based selection and retention method for some or all judges. Twenty-five states have a nominating commission to screen all candidates of the state courts of last resort. Eight states have commissions which fill interim vacancies on the highest courts. Twenty states utilize retention elections for judges who wish to serve on highest state courts beyond their initial term. Under

1110-576: The recent slugfests have proven anything, it's that Missouri's courts are every bit as hung up in politics as they are in other states. The difference is that in Missouri the process happens behind closed doors." Similarly, Professor Brian T. Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt University has argued that politics are undoubtedly a part of judicial selection in Missouri Plan states, writing, "In short, I am skeptical that merit selection removes politics from judicial selection. Rather, merit selection may simply move

1147-505: The report from the JNE Commission, then decides whether to confirm the nominee. Once confirmed, the judge can take office but then must go through retention elections (at different intervals for each level of the judiciary). The Missouri Plan is not without critics. There are several alternative ways of filling judicial posts that are used in other states. These include direct elections (either partisan or non-partisan), election by

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1184-414: The role of politics in the selection of judges, particularly circuit judges with responsibilities over the day-to-day work of the courts. An example of this advocacy is the merit selection program urged by Albert M. Kales in his work Unpopular Government in the United States (1914). Support for merit selection increased due to the perceived corruption of urban political bosses. Missouri voters adopted

1221-479: The state legislature, or appointment by the governor with advice and consent of the state senate. Missouri had previously used all of these methods before adopting the Nonpartisan Court Plan in 1940. Better Courts for Missouri has argued that flaws in the current plan give elite trial lawyers too much control over judicial selection. According to the organization's executive director, "they are

1258-626: The statute once more in 1998. The plaintiffs argued that the process was not an " election " in the sense envisioned by the authors of the state constitution and that the court in Higgins v. Dunn had been incompetent to render a decision because of its interest in the outcome of the case. DeLaney v. Thompson was appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which, if it had not recused itself in the case of Higgins v. Dunn recused itself altogether and entirely now. The governor appointed five temporary replacements to hear this case. That body declined to rule on

1295-721: The system by initiative petition in November 1940 after several very contentious judicial elections, which were heavily influenced by the political machine of Tom Pendergast . Most associate and circuit judges are elected. However, the state constitution requires such judges in Jackson County (Kansas City) and the city of St. Louis to be selected under the nonpartisan system. Similarly, the voters in Clay and Platte counties (parts of Kansas City), St. Louis county, and Greene County (Springfield) have elected to appoint such judges under

1332-555: The years. Originally, each justice was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly for life. An 1853 amendment to the state constitution set judicial terms of office to eight years (even with changes in the election process, the tenure has remained the same ever since) and provided that all judges (including supreme court justices) would be elected by the people. Under this arrangement, a justice could enter office either through gubernatorial appointment (to fill

1369-498: Was removed in 1996 in a campaign reminiscent of that used a few years earlier in California to remove former Chief Justice Rose Bird , and for largely the same reason: a demonstrated unwillingness to uphold death sentences . As of September 1, 2024, the justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court are: State attorney general ( Alabama to Missouri , Montana to Wyoming ) The state attorney general in each of

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