Campaigning By Judges, Outside Money Increasing in Judiciary Races

The Republican State Leadership Committee, a national Republican group, is planning on spending $5 million on judicial races this year, reports Joe Palazzolo in the Wall Street Journal: "The GOP committee’s president, Matt Walter, said his organization’s main opponents are labor unions and groups of personal-injury lawyers, who have long contributed to state judicial races." The heavy spending is prompting judges to campaign more in order to hold onto their seats, Palazzolo further reports, which means that judges are forced into the "ethically tricky process of soliciting big money and stumping for votes from constitutents they might face in court."

The trend of outside money being given to judicial campaigns has accelerated since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal limits on corporate and union campaign spending, WSJ further reports.