Former Governor Phil Bredesen stands with Governor Bill Haslam in an ad in support of passing Amendment 2. Credit: Vote Yes on 2
The group Vote Yes on 2 is heating up its media campaign with a new TV ad urging voters to pass Amendment 2.
Amendment 2 is concerned with how the state’s highest judges are selected. Right now, the governor has most of the power (through appointment) and Vote Yes on 2 advocates want to keep it that way. They argue that letting the governor appoint the judges keeps special interest groups out of the judiciary, which recent history shows is not necessarily true.
They also say its passage will add another layer of accountability by giving state lawmakers the right to confirm a governor’s appointment. The existing setup has a bipartisan selection committee choose nominees before and the governor chooses among them. Amendment 2 would scrap the selection committee.
Activists fighting against Amendment 2 point to the Tennessee Constitution’s original language, which says voters should pick the state’s top judges, a system used by around half the states.
But the Tennessee Bar Association, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and the Beacon Center of Tennessee, among other groups that endorse Amendment 2, would like to stick with the current system, but with a few tweaks.
In the ad, Governor Bill Haslam and Former Governor Phil Bredesen stand side by side and take turns speaking: “It’s your voice, your vote on judges. Together, we can move Tennessee forward by voting yes on Amendment 2.”
Critics of Amendment 2 say that message is misleading, since letting voters directly elect appeals judges is exactly what Haslam and Bredesen oppose.
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