Tennessee Bar Decides To Weigh In On Contested Retention Elections

In August, Tennessee voters will be asked to retain or replace three Supreme Court justices: Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee. The TBA’s secret ballot will ask members to rate each with one of four options: (1) highly recommend retention, (2) recommend retention, (3) do not recommend retention or (4) do not have an informed opinion at this time. Credit: TN Photo Services

Tennessee’s lawyers regularly conduct straw polls to see which candidate attorneys support – but never for the state Supreme Court, until now.

Voters don’t really elect Tennessee’s appellate judges. The governor appoints them, and they stand for what are called “retention elections” every eight years. Only one justice has ever been defeated this way.

But this year, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has launched a campaign against three Supreme Court justices who were appointed by Democrats.

Tennessee Bar executive director Allan Ramsaur says attorneys aren’t necessarily supporting the sitting justices. He says the legal profession is “uniquely qualified” to offer a middle ground.

“We’re going to be neutral,” he says. “We’re simply going to be reporting how our members tell us they’re going to be voting.”

The state bar will defend the judges on the ballot if the campaign to oust them starts stretching the truth, Ramsaur says. The justices – themselves – are severely limited in what they can say publicly on their behalf, even if only to set the record straight.