A VERY orderly court
The proposed constitutional amendment that would have changed judical elections didn't survive the legislative session, so it was business as usual for the Supreme Court in an election year this morning.
Not that it wouldn't likely have been business as usual anyway, since the amendment on retention elections would have only been on the ballot, rather than in effect, this fall.
But the three justices up for election this year tread very lightly nonetheless -- not even a whiff of the politicking that has marked recent Supreme Court judicial elections as near as Wisconsin. The spectre of multi-million dollar, pitched political battles like Wisconsin's are part of the reason supporters pushed the amendment for retention elections.
Christopher Dietzen, appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2008, Helen Meyer, appointed by Gov. Jesse Ventura in 2002, and Alan Page, who won election back in 1992, are all up for re-election this year. They were mighty circumspect about their campaigns, although all three agreed to talk about their "judicial philosophy."
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