Summary:
Alicia Bannon, Director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, discusses the politics of state judicial elections with Associate Dean Rodger Citron. In 38 states, judges are elected. As Bannon describes, judicial elections used to be “sleepy” – not much campaigning was done and not much money was spent. For a number of reasons, that has changed. In 2023, for example, about $51 million was spent on the election of a state supreme court justice in Wisconsin.
Furthermore, as Bannon explains, state courts matter. The most notable example of the importance of state courts is that they very well may have the final say on laws allowing or restricting access to abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022. Bannon describes how judicial elections have become more politicized, what effect this has on the operation and perception of state judicial systems, and what, if anything, can be done in response to these developments.
Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.
Learn More About Alicia Bannon
Alicia Bannon is the Director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. An experienced constitutional lawyer and expert on the courts and access to justice in the legal system, Bannon leads a team of lawyers and researchers engaged in policy advocacy, litigation, legislative campaigns, research and analysis, and public education. Bannon also serves as the editor-in-chief of State Court Report, a Brennan Center publication focused on state courts and state constitutional law.
Bannon has held numerous prior roles at the Brennan Center, including managing the Center’s redistricting project and serving as the managing director of the Democracy Program. She first came to the Brennan Center as a Liman Fellow and counsel in the Justice Program. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Bannon was a John J. Gibbons Fellow in public interest and constitutional law at Gibbons P.C. in Newark, New Jersey, where she litigated a wide range of civil rights cases. She clerked for the Hon. Sonia Sotomayor in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Hon. Kimba M. Wood in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Bannon received her JD from Yale Law School and graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude with a degree in social studies.
You must be logged in to post a comment.