According to this report from OSI grantee Justice at Stake Campaign, a group of grassroots and national partners that supports a variety of measures to protect U.S. courts, the number of interest groups that ran TV ads in 2002 state judicial elections was double that of 2000 campaigns; in addition, a record 10 high court candidates raised more than $1 million for their 2002 campaigns. The report—authored by campaign partners Deborah Goldberg of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and Samantha Sanchez of the Institute of Money in State Politics—was released by Justice at Stake at a Capitol Hill press conference on May 6, 2004, where Sen. John McCain (R, Arizona) spoke on the increasing influence of special interests over the judicial election process.

In addition, a new nationwide poll conducted by Zogby International and commissioned by Justice at Stake shows that Americans are alarmed by the increasing power of money and special interest politics in judicial elections—and that they want reforms.

Attached below in PDF format are the following:

• a Justice at Stake press release containing a summary of the report and the Zogby polling information—as well as reactions from McCain and Judge James Wynn of the North Carolina Court of Appeals
• the full text of “The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2002”
• a summary of the national public opinion poll from Zogby

Also attached below are PDFs of state-specific items for four of the states that are featured in the “New Politics” report: Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas.