Judges vying for North Carolina’s State Supreme Court face difficult and expensive challenges on the campaign trail ever since the state did away with public financing for judicial candidates last year, Gavel Grab reports. Judicial candidates can’t make promises or use traditional campaign tactics when trying to define their candidacies, which leads to an "awkward world of judges stumping for votes and money." North Carolina Supreme Court justice Cheri Beasley says the $1.2 to $2 million her consultants say she needs to raise for her reelection bid is outrageous. “We want judges that are focusing on doing their jobs and not focusing on being politicians,” she said.

The Alaska Supreme Court has come out against legislative efforts to change Alaska's judicial nomination process, Alaska Dispatch reports. But that political role for the justices has now drawn criticism, too, with one legislator saying he was "appalled" at the court's involvement in politics. Candidates for judicial appointments in Alaska currently are sent to the governor by the Judicial Council, a group made up of three lawyers appointed by the Alaska Bar and three citizen members appointed by the governor, along with the state's chief justice as the seventh member.

Judge Jeffrey S. Bivins of Franklin received the highest marks in a poll released today by the Nashville Bar Association in which its members rated candidates seeking appointment to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Five lawyers are seeking to fill a vacancy that will be created when Justice William C. Koch Jr. retires in July to become dean of the Nashville School of Law. The survey asked lawyers to register a vote of highly recommend, recommend, do not recommend or no opinion. Paul C. Ney Jr. of Nashville received the second highest rank, followed by Nashville lawyer Linda W. Knight. See the full poll results.

Tennesseans for Independent Courts, a new nonprofit political action committee, has announced it will educate the public on the “dangers of partisan political pressures on judicial elections and appointments.” The group, formed Jan. 10 by former personnel commissioner Randy Camp, who served in Gov. Phil Bredesen’s cabinet, will also provide support to judicial candidates who want to run for office without political affiliations, and back legislative and gubernatorial candidates who want the same. Camp states that the non-profit corporation has filed for 501 (c) designation with the IRS, and will be dedicated to informing, educating, engaging and involving the citizens of Tennessee in ensuring that the judicial branch of Tennessee’s government remains free and independent of partisan political pressures from any group or organization. KnoxBlogs has more.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen are joining forces in a drive to keep appointment of state appellate judges in the hands of governors. According to the Tennessean, Haslam’s Republican administration plans to support a campaign to win passage of a proposed constitutional amendment that will be on ballots statewide this fall.

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen and Herbert Slatery, counsel to Gov. Bill Haslam, today called on Nashville's business community to actively support a proposed amendment to Tennessee's Constitution regarding the selection of appellate judges. At a Tennessee Business Roundtable gathering, Bredesen and Slatery painted a picture of the amendment's alternative — politicized and paid-for judicial elections that would undermine the legitimacy of legal decisions. Slatery also told the group that Haslam's administration intends to run a public campaign on the issue tentatively called "Vote Yes on 2." The Nashville Post has more.

Nashville attorney John Jay Hooker has asked a Nashville court to halt the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission’s review of judges, arguing that the gender makeup of the panel violates a state law requiring equal representation of women. Hooker and two other opponents of the review system, Walter Brumit and Anthony Gottlieb, argue that state law requires the commission to represent the “approximate the population of the state with respect to race and gender.” They point out that the current panel of nine includes just two women and thus does not represent the state’s population. They have asked the circuit court to prohibit commission meetings and discussions until the gender imbalance is rectified, The Tennessean reports.

The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission on Friday announced that Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Jerry L. Smith has decided not to seek another term, leading the commission to drop plans to recommend he not be retained in next year’s election. For two other appellate judges facing possible negative recommendations, the commission said the judges could file written responses to its reports and appear at a Jan. 17, 2014, meeting where they would be allowed to speak about their performance. Appeals Court Judge Andy Bennett and Criminal Appeals Court Judge Camille R. McMullen appear on track to press forward with their campaigns, the Tennessean reports. Finally, the panel declined to hear from opponents of the retention election system, including Nashville attorney John Jay Hooker, who said afterward that he may sue the commission for not letting him speak.

The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) was scheduled to consider a final recommendation today on whether Court of Appeals Judge Andy Bennett and Court of Criminal Appeals Judges Camille R. McMullen and Jerry L. Smith should be retained in the 2014 elections. At press time, the commission had concluded the public portion of its session without discussing the evaluations and was meeting in closed session.

The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission is set to recommend three appellate court judges not be retained in the 2014 elections, reports Tom Humphrey in his Humphrey on the Hill blog for Knoxnews. The three, according to Humphrey, are Court of Appeals Judge Andy Bennett and Court of Criminal Appeals Judges Camille R. McMullen and Jerry L. Smith. The commission is set to meet Dec. 6 to make its final decision. Meanwhile, Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade is challenging the commission’s position, saying all three judges deserve new terms. Charles D. Susano Jr. of Knoxville, presiding judge of the Court of Appeals, also spoke out in support of one of the three saying he has worked extensively with Judge Bennett. Others are questioning the comission's partisan leanings -- all of the rejected jurists have Democratic backgrounds while almost all the commissioners are Republicans. The one commissioner who spoke on the record to Humphrey told him that the judges slated not to receive endorsements had poor survey results and slow turnaround times in issuing rulings and came across as nonchalant about their shortcomings during interviews with the commission.