Democrat Bob Vance outraising GOP opponent Tom Parker in Alabama chief justice race
In the race for Alabama chief justice, Democratic nominee Bob Vance is attracting more donors than Republican Tom Parker. Campaign finance reports filed recently show that Vance raised $200,000 for his campaign last month. Parker reported raising less than $4,000. Vance has an available campaign balance of $420,197 while Parker has $17,500. The race pits Parker, a member of the court since 2005 and a past adviser to former chief justice Roy Moore, against Vance, a Jefferson County judge. Finance reports show that two former Republican Supreme Court members, former Chief Justice Drayton Nabers and former Justice Thomas Woodall, donated to Vance’s campaign. Parker won the GOP primary over incumbent Chief Justice Lyn Stuart, who had a financial advantage in the race. Republished with permission form the Associated Press.
15 years ago today, the Ten Commandments monument fight took center stage in Alabama
August 21, 2003 Alabama’s top judge, Chief Justice Roy Moore, was embroiled in a very public dispute over a Ten Commandments monument in the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building. Two years earlier, Moore had placed in the state judicial building a 5,280-pound granite block monument, which was covered with quotes from the Declaration of Independence, the national anthem and various Founding Fathers, with the Ten Commandments resting on top. Months later, several groups filed suit for the monument to be removed. In 2002, a federal judge ruled the monument must be removed but Moore refused. The ruling was upheld on appeal. On Aug. 21, 2003, the other eight justices on the Alabama Supreme Court voted to remove the monument. Moore that November was removed from his position as chief justice for defying the court order to remove the monument, but would return to political office years later.
Lawsuit against Roy Moore won’t move counties says Alabama Supreme Court
A defamation lawsuit filed against former Alabama Chief Justice and Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore by one of his accusers will remain in a Montgomery County court, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday. Leigh Corfman, the woman who said Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14, filed the suit in the Montgomery County Circuit Court back in January. Corfman specifically said she was only 14 years old when Moore, then 32, approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. According to the report, he ultimately drove her to his home in the woods,told her she was pretty and kissed her, and then undressed her. Moore has vehemently denied Corfman’s allegations of abuse, calling them “politically motivated,” “completely false” and “malicious.” She asserts those words are defamatory in the suit. On Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court denied Moore’s request to have the case heard in Etowah County, where both he and Corfman live, instead of Montgomery County where she filed the suit. “Because I have denied Leigh Corfman’s allegations of sexual misconduct, I will now be forced to try this case in a county where the supposed event did not occur, where she does not live, and where there exists no evidence or witnesses to prove anything. This is ridiculous!” Moore said Friday of the state high court’s decision. He continued, “The Court itself admits venue is proper in either county. Should not the case be tried in the county where we both live and where her reputation and character are well known? She herself has said: “There is no one here [Gadsden] that doesn’t know that I’m not an angel.” “Corfman based her defense of venue in Montgomery County on two statements. One was made by a nonparty and thus was irrelevant to the case, and the other was made in a court case where the statement was privileged. Yet the Supreme Court refused to consider these facts in making its decision,” Moore concluded.
Bob Vance holds major financial lead over opponent Tom Parker
According to monthly campaign finance reports filed with the Secretary of State’s office this week, Alabama Chief Justice Democratic candidate Judge Bob Vance is holding a major financial lead over his Republican opponent Associate Justice Tom Parker. Parker beat out former chief justice Lyn Stuart in the June 5 primary election with almost 52 percent of the vote. Vance had no primary opponent. According to the campaign filings, Parker ended the month of July with $13,753 in his account, while Vance ended the month with $239,200. Over the course of the month Parker raised just $2030, to Vance’s $93,080. “I think what’s pleased me most is that our numbers come from a large number of individual contributors,” Vance told AL.com. “I think we’re over 1,600 different contributors now. And the overwhelming majority of that is individual contributions. So that’s very heartening to me and it shows we’re getting a lot of support in the campaign.” Parker claimed he was not worried about the difference in funds; “I have had a continual experience of being able to use my money conservatively in my campaigns to win against candidates who have out raised me or outspent me multiple times over,” Parker told AL.com. But according to the Associated Press, the race has undertones of a rematch. Parker, a longtime ally of former Chief Justice Roy Moore – and Vance; who’s strong showing against Moore in the 2012 race for chief justice helped inspire U.S. Sen. Doug Jones last year in his defeat of Moore for the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. If elected, Vance would become the only Democrat on the Alabama Supreme Court. Read the full campaign finance reports below: Tom Parker Monthly Campaign Filings – July Bob Vance Monthly Campaign Filings – July
Obama’s Organizing for America targets Doug Jones pushing against Brett Kavanaugh
Today, Organizing for America emailed Alabama democrats asking them to reach out to U.S. Senator Doug Jones to urge him to vote against President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Prior to Kavanaugh being named Jones has said that he was open to voting for a Trump nominee. “I’m open to voting yes. I’m open to voting no. We don’t know who the nominee is going to be yet,” Jones told CNNon the State of the Union Sunday morning. “I don’t think my role is to rubber stamp for the President, but it’s also not an automatic knee-jerk no, either.” Time named Doug Jones “The 7 Senators to Watch on Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation.” saying: Jones is another red-state Democrat who will face pressure, but he is not up for election this year. He has said that he will do a “thorough vetting of Judge Kavanaugh’s body of work” before making a decision and said that he is open to voting either way. “I don’t think my role is to rubber stamp for the President, but it’s also not an automatic knee-jerk no, either,” he told CNN before Kavanaugh was announced. He will be up for re-election in 2020, which means he will not face the same immediate pressure as the other red-state Democrats on this list but does have to worry about being on the same ballot as Trump, who will surely make a “no” vote an issue. He did not belong to the Senate when Gorsuch was confirmed. Email from OFA below:
Steve Flowers: Supreme Court races on ballot this year
Among the plethora of races on the ballot this year are the important seats on the Alabama Supreme Court. We have an unprecedented five out of nine seats up for election. Our Alabama Supreme Court as well as our Courts of Criminal Appeals are extremely conservative, pro-business and all Republican. This conservatism dates back to the 1980’s and 1990’s. During that two-decade run, the plaintiff lawyers controlled and dominated our State Supreme Court. We were known throughout the country as a Plaintiff’s paradise. It was like a fairytale jackpot justice system. It was not uncommon for ludicrous multimillion dollar verdicts to be upheld daily for all types of cases. We were called Tort Hell by “Time Magazine.” Tort reform became the dominant issue in the Halls of the Legislature. When you have unbridled monetary verdicts coming out of Alabama that gives a plaintiff millions of dollars for having a wreck in a General Motors vehicle, it affects the entire country. General Motors does business in all 50 states. Well the business community throughout the country and in Alabama decided enough was enough. They decided to close down tort hell. They put their money where their mouth was and replaced an all Democratic plaintiff trial lawyer Supreme Court with an all Republican pro-business court. The pendulum has swung completely from left to right. If yesterday’s court was extremely liberal, today’s Alabama Supreme Court is extremely conservative. These five open seats will be held by conservative Republicans when the dust settles at the end of the year and they begin their six-year terms. It is just a matter of which Republican presides and decides the major cases that affect Alabamians. Will Sellers, a very well respected Montgomery attorney, was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey last year to Place 3 on the high court. Justice Sellers is running without opposition and will have a full six-year term. Popular Justice, Tommy Bryan, also has no opposition and will return for another six-years on the high tribunal. Justice Jim Main who has had a distinguished career as a private lawyer, finance director and Supreme Court Justice, cannot run for reelection due to an antiquated law that disallows judges to run for reelection after they turn 70. Main’s Place 2 is being sought by Jefferson County’s John Bahakel and Jay Mitchell, also of Birmingham. Circuit Judge, Debra Jones of Calhoun County has been a judge for a decade and has run a get acquainted race for the court. She will be formidable. This place was held by Justice Glen Murdock who is originally from the Wiregrass. Murdock retired a few months ago and Governor Kay Ivey did a good day’s work when she appointed another Wiregrass native, Brad Mendheim to replace him. Mendheim has served a decade as a Circuit Judge in Dothan. He is very well respected in his hometown. He is seeking a full term. Sarah Stewart of Mobile is also in the race and should benefit from being from the vote rich Mobile-Baldwin area. The battle royale will be for the Chief Justice post. The Chief Justice not only presides over the nine member Supreme Court but also oversees the entire Court System. Justice Lyn Stuart currently presides as Chief Justice. She is running for a full 6-year reign. When the business community orchestrated the takeover of the Court, they brought in the vaunted Karl Rove to mastermind the plan. When he departed, victoriously, he left with this admonition, “The best candidate that you can put forward is a female Republican who has some experience as a Circuit Judge.” Alabamians prefer females on the Bench. If you have a race for Judge in Alabama and you have two names on the ballot, one Sue Smith and one Sam Smith and neither spends any money on campaigns and neither is known, Sue Smith will win. Lyn Stuart epitomizes this scenario perfectly. She became a respected Circuit Judge in Baldwin County at a very young age. She was elected to the Supreme Court over a decade ago and is the longest serving member of the Court. She will be pitted against another sitting member of the Court, Justice Tom Parker. He has excellent polling numbers. He was Roy Moore’s closest ally on the Court. Stuart is the sweetheart of the Business Council. Parker is the darling of the social conservatives. The race for Chief Justice will be one of the premier contests this year. See you next week. ••• Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. She may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tommy Bryan announces re-election run
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tommy Bryan announced his bid for re-election to the state’s high court on Thursday. It would be the Republican’s second term. After years of working in state courts, Byran first joined the court in 2013. “I want to continue to bring leadership and judgment that the people of Alabama can trust,” Bryan said in a statement. “I want to ensure for the people of Alabama a judicial system that is fair and balanced.” Bryan was raised on his family’s farm in Crenshaw County, Ala.. He credits his parents for instilling in him a belief of faith and love for family values — conservative values that he says he tries to protect on the court. Judge Bryan graduated from Brantley High School in 1974, and when to graduate from Troy State University with both Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees. In 1983, he received his law degree from Montgomery-based Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law. After graduating from law school, Bryan served as a staff attorney for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. In 1987, he became an assistant attorney general for the State of Alabama, serving as an associate general counsel for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. He was first elected to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in 2004 and was re-elected for a second term in 2010. In 2012, Bryan was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court. In that year he was also named “Judge of the Year” by the Family Law Section of the Alabama State Bar. Bryan and his wife Pamela have two children, a daughter, Thomason, and a son, Tucker. They attend Montgomery’s First Baptist Church where he serves as a Deacon and sings in the sanctuary choir. He also teaches a young-married-adult Sunday School class.
Troy University hosts special session of Alabama Supreme Court for landmark case
The Alabama Supreme Court held a special session at Troy University on Wednesday, where it heard two cases. Most noticeably was the landmark care of Jessie Livell Phillips v Alabama. The case dates back to June 2012 when Jessie Phillips, 32, of Albertville, was convicted in of killing his wife, Erica Droze Phillips, who was eight weeks pregnant with their unborn child. He was sentenced to death. Phillips is now appealing the case, which was the first prosecution and conviction under Alabama’s Brody Act, which makes it a homicide to kill an unborn baby in an attack on its mother. Phillips was prosecuted in Marshall County by then District Attorney Steve Marshall. Marshall, now the Alabama Attorney General, was in attendance for oral arguments in the appeal The court regularly holds special sessions at various locations across the Yellowhammer State.
Chief Justice Lyn Stuart announces candidacy, seeking full term
Lyn Stuart on Tuesday announced she will seek a full term as Alabama’s Chief Justice. Stuart was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey in April following the resignation of former chief justice, and current U.S. Senate candidate, Roy Moore. She is the first female Republican Chief Justice in the history of the State of Alabama. “I am proud to announce my campaign for Chief Justice because we need to continue making Alabama a place where justice is served and the law is evenly applied to all parties,” Stuart said in a news release. “We need a judicial system where our justices follow the law, not make the law. And we need justices who strictly interpret the constitution. I’m proud of my record of doing just that and I look forward to speaking with the voters to get that message out there over the coming months.” Stuart has been elected to the Alabama Supreme Court three times — in 2000, 2006 and 2012. Prior to that she was elected a District Judge in 1988 and again in 1994. In 1997 she was appointed a Circuit Court Judge and was elected to the position in 1998. A native of Atmore, Ala. Stuart received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Auburn University with high honor in 1977 and her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama in 1980. Her legal career includes stints as an Assistant State Attorney General, Special Assistant Attorney General for the State Department of Corrections, and as an Assistant District Attorney for Baldwin County. “Securing adequate financial resources for our courts is a primary responsibility of the Chief Justice. State government is experiencing tough financial times,” Stuart continued. “Everyone in our court system is having to do more with less. It’s important to have someone with my background, experience and work ethic, someone who will work hard every day to keep our courts fair and running smoothly. That’s what I’ve been doing for 29 years and, if elected, that’s what I intend to keep doing.“
Alabama Supreme Court pauses officer’s murder trial over social media post
The Alabama Supreme Court has temporarily halted the murder trial of a Montgomery police officer to consider whether the judge should be removed because of a social media post in which he complained about being stopped by police because he is black. Justices on Friday ordered the pause to consider the defense request. Officer Aaron Smith faces murder charges in the 2016 shooting of 58-year-old Greg Gunn. The white officer stopped Gunn, who is black, as Gunn was walking late at night. Defense lawyers asked Montgomery County Circuit Judge Greg Griffin to step aside over a Facebook post. In the post, Griffin described being stopped by police who said he matched a suspect’s description. Justices asked for briefs to be filed quickly. The case is scheduled for trial in October. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
With little fanfare, internal polling gives Roy Moore lead in U.S. Senate race
Sometimes, the most money (or pull) does not guarantee a candidate a polling lead. While incumbent Sen. Luther Strange has financial and institutional support, and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks gathering congressional backing, it is former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore leading in the GOP primary for Strange’s Senate seat. As Daniel Strauss of POLITICO reports, Brooks’ internal polling is showing the firebrand ex-judge – who was suspended from the state Supreme Court over his refusal to honor the federal same-sex marriage ruling – leading the Republican primary field of nearly a dozen candidates with 31 percent. Strange is next at 23 percent, with Brooks at 21 percent; other candidates grouped below the 5 percent threshold. Moore has received less attention than his Washington-centric opponents for the Aug. 15 primary for Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘ old Senate seat. “But he could be an unusually strong obstacle for Strange in an age of unsettled Republican primaries,” Strauss writes. “Moore is hoping his years of high-profile religious fights on the Alabama Supreme Court will fuel his run more than a high-budget campaign would have.”
Birmingham attorney Jay Mitchell enters Alabama Supreme Court race
Birmingham attorney Jay Mitchell entered the race for Alabama Supreme Court on Monday, seeking the Republican nomination for the Place 4 seat currently held by Associate Justice Jim Main. “The people of Alabama deserve to have justices on the Supreme Court who know the law, will faithfully apply the law as written, and will uphold the Constitution and the principles on which our nation was founded,” Mitchell said in a press release. Mitchell continued, “I have a strong commitment to the rule of law. The people of Alabama deserve to have Justices on the Supreme Court who know the law, will faithfully apply the law as written, and will uphold the Constitution and the principles on which our nation was founded. That is the kind of Justice I will be. If elected, I will serve the people of Alabama with integrity, passion, and fidelity to the law.” An accomplished litigator with the Birmingham firm, Maynard, Cooper & Gale, Mitchell is a graduate of Homewood High School He holds an M.A. from University College Dublin (Ireland) and a B.A. magna cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, served as President of the student body, and played forward on the school’s 1995 national championship basketball team. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. According to his bio, he has a long history of involvement with the Republican Party and the conservative movement in Alabama. He is a member of the Federalist Society. Mitchell and his wife, Elizabeth, are longtime members of Church of the Highlands. They reside in Homewood with their four children.
