Friday, December 15, 2006

December 14, 2006 Chancellor: New Supreme Court Nominee Must Be Named

It is taking a long time to fill a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle of Nashville has ruled that the Judicial Selection Commission must provide Governor Bredesen with another name to complete a 3-name "second panel" from which the Governor will select a Supreme Court nominee.

The story is here.

It is a complicated situation. Many months ago, the Judicial Selection Commission provided the Governor with 3 names ("first panel") from which to select the next Supreme Court nominee.

One of the three candidates, the only minority nominee, asked to withdraw for personal reasons. At that point, the Governor rejected the "first panel" completely because it no longer had a minority candidate.

The Judicial Commission then came back with a "second panel," but the "second panel" included one of the individuals who had been on the "first panel."

In Lyle's opinion, the state law is clear — the second panel must have three candidates, each of them different from the first panel.

Gordon’s attorney, Charles Bone, sees it differently and hinted that an appeal may be filed.

Bone said: "We anticipated from the beginning that this matter would ultimately be resolved by the Tennessee Supreme Court. I anticipate one or more of the parties will file an appeal."

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