John Grisham’s The Appeal

I am a faithful John Grisham fan. I have enjoyed every book he has written. That holds true for his book The Appeal. I would encourage you to read the book in background for the article that I am putting into this post on my blog. What John Grisham reminds us is that justice is being bought and sold in our country just like every other political aspect from the presidency to the local commissioners. If I really want to have a voice in government then a nice campaign gift opens the door to my opinions and if necessary, my protection in legal matters. But read the book. John Grisham does a much better job of telling the story than me.

Here is the article from Associated Press, dated June 8, 2009. Dateline: Washington [D.C.]

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that elected judges must step aside from cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias.

By a 5-4 vote in a case from West Virginia, the court said that a judge who remained involved in a lawsuit filed against the company of the most generous supporter of his election deprived the other side of the constitutional right to a fair trial.

With multimillion dollar judicial election campaigns on the rise, the court's decision could have widespread significance. Justice at Stake, which tracks campaign spending in judicial elections, says judges are elected in 39 states and the candidates for the highest state courts have raised $168 million since 2000.

The West Virginia case involved more than $3 million spent by the chief executive of Massey Energy Co. to help elect state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin. At the time, Massey was appealing a verdict, which now totals $82.7 million with interest, in a dispute with a local coal company. Benjamin refused to step aside from the case, despite repeated requests, and was part of a 3-2 decision to overturn the verdict.

"Not every campaign contribution by a litigant or attorney creates a probability of bias that requires a judge's recusal, but this is an exceptional case," Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his opinion for the court.