Gov. Bill Haslam said he expects to move quickly in selecting three new state appellate judges from the lists of candidates forwarded to him by the Judicial Nominating Commission in its final days of existence. “Our working assumption is we will name those in the next 60 days,” Haslam told the Times Free Press yesterday. Haslam also said his administration is exploring how to legally handle the unexpected announcement from Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder that she will not seek reelection in 2014.

The failure to renew the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission this year continues to have significant ramifications, according to a Memphis Daily News article. “We think it was really irresponsible for the legislature not to act, to put it into sort of this muddle,” said Allan Ramsaur, executive director of the Tennessee Bar Association. “We have for 50 years favored merit selection and believe it and retention elections meet the constitutional test for election,” Ramsaur added.  Gavel Grab has more on the issue.

A special edition of Gavel to Gavel reviews the six confirmed states -- including Tennessee -- that will have 2014 ballot items substantially affecting the courts, with six more deemed “possible.” Currently Tennessee has a statutory-based merit selection system for the state’s appellate courts. SJR 2 would specifically put into the state constitution a quasi-federal system: governor appoints, House and Senate confirm, additional terms by retention elections.

Nashville Circuit Court Judge Hamilton Gayden today denied an injunction request filed by John Jay Hooker against the Judicial Nominating Commission, The Tennessean reports. Hooker had sought to stop the commission from sending the governor candidates to fill two appellate court seats that will become vacant after the commission ceases to exist. The suit is the eighth time Hooker has gone to the courts to try to change the way Tennessee selects appellate judges. “I admire your tenacity and perseverance,” Gayden said. But “you’re asking me to do things I’m not authorized to do.” Gayden said that because the state Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on a related Hooker case in July, he must defer to the high court’s judgment.

A recent report by the American Constitution Society (ACS) found that business donations in judicial elections fuel a perception that justice is for sale. Though the report stopped short of finding a direct link between contributions and elections or contributions and rulings, it raises “troubling” issues, said Liz Seaton, acting executive director of ACS. The study, titled “Justice at Risk,” examined business-related state supreme court cases between 2010 and 2012. Among its key points was a finding that people believe the more businesses give in campaign contributions, the more likely justices are to rule for business litigants who appear before them in court. Gavel Grab has more on the report.

Rhode Island lawmakers and other elected officials came under fire recently from Common Cause Rhode Island, which accuses legislators and the governor of skirting the intent of the state's merit selection law. Though the law requires the governor to fill a judicial vacancy within 21 days of receiving a list of candidates from the Judicial Nominating Commission, the legislature has routinely enacted legislation allowing the governor to appoint any candidate recommended for the same court in the prior five years. Critics say the practice has whittled away at the merit selection system and turned the courts into bastions of cronyism. Gavel to Gavel has the story.

The surprise announcement that Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joseph M. Tipton and Court of Appeals Judge Patricia J. Cottrell will step down next year highlights the legislature’s failure to extend the life of the Judicial Nominating Commission beyond June 30, leaving commissioners scrambling to nominate replacements. In an editorial detailing the problems now facing the judicial branch, the Knoxville News Sentinel editorial board tasks the legislature next year with fixing the mess it made.

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin was convicted by a jury of criminal corruption in connection with two Supreme Court campaigns, and sentenced Tuesday to three years of house arrest and two years of probation. The conviction over campaign corruption has sparked high-profile calls for Pennsylvania to switch to a merit-based selection system for picking judges, an option endorsed recently by four former Pennsylvania governors. Gavel Grab has the story.

Tennessee Bar Association President Jackie Dixon defends the current judicial merit selection process in an opinion piece for the Tennessean. In the article, Dixon says the merit selection system, known as the Tennessee Plan, helps ensure the impartiality of the judicial system by appointing “impartial and well-qualified judges who rule not based on popular public opinion or campaign contributions but rather on the fact and law as presented.” The contemplated change in judicial appointments would replace the merit-based selection and retention election system with legislative confirmation, further politicizing our justice system, Dixon wrote. With the House poised to consider the issue next week, the TBA president concludes the article by urging citizens to ask their legislators to vote to continue the Tennessee Plan.

The Alliance for Justice, a liberal public interest group that monitors the judicial nomination process, compiled a report listing the nation’s vacant judicial spots and how long they have remained open without a nominee, the Blog of the Legal Times reports. The results show that delays in filling the bench often begin before the nominees even reach the Senate. According to the report, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has a position that has remained open for 3,200 days because of a dispute between California and Idaho senators about from which state the nominee should be. There has been a 2,655-day vacancy in the eastern district of California, 1,925-day vacancy in the western district of Wisconsin, and a 1,619-day vacancy in the northern district of Georgia.