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Friday, October 27, 2006

Ind. Courts - "Indiana Right to Life Urges Voters To Vote No On All Judicial Retention Questions"

Indiana Right to Life sent out a press release October 25 "urging Indiana voters to oppose the retention of every judge up for retention on Indiana ballots this fall due to judicial histories that indicate judicial philosophies hostile to traditional values." More:

Included on this list of six judges is Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr., who wrote the majority opinion in a 2003 decision (Humphreys v. Clinic for Women) that expanded Medicaid funding for abortion in Indiana. Also included is Judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals, Third District, Judge Terry Drone who recently blocked the Indiana Attorney General's office from accessing Planned Parenthood records on minors in an investigation on whether child sexual abuse is being properly reported. Of the six judges up for retention, five were appointed by Governor Evan Bayh and one by Governor Joe Kernan.

To help educate voters on the judicial histories of the judges, Indiana Right to Life PAC is posting information on its web page at www.candidatesurveys.com.

Indiana voters in the dark on judges

In addition to calling for the rejection of all judges up for retention, Indiana Right to Life is lamenting the fact that the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission prohibits judicial candidates at all levels from completing candidate surveys. A 2004 suit filed by Indiana Right to Life against this prohibition of judicial surveys (Indiana Right to Life v. Shepard) has yet to be decided.

"Incumbent judges in Indiana are currently shielded by a prohibition on judicial surveys and by a retention system that asks Indiana voters to make decisions without full information on how these judges rule from the bench," notes IRTL-PAC chairman Mike Fichter. "Indiana voters need to be aware that the judges up for retention are activist judges imposing their wills on the state of Indiana. For the sake of traditional values, every judge up for a retention vote should be rejected."

IRTL PAC's information on judges up for retention is available here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 27, 2006 01:26 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts