The Problem

Minnesota’s judicial elections are changing
Minnesotans hold our courts in high regard. And we should. We demand that our judges be impartial and follow the law. Rules of professional conduct traditionally helped ensure the impartiality and high ethical standard of Minnesota judges.

Until 2005, it was considered unethical for judges in Minnesota to seek campaign endorsements from political parties and special interest groups or to proclaim their personal positions on controversial issues in order to win their elections. However, the U. S. Supreme Court concluded in the White decision that Minnesota’s system of competitive judicial elections cannot limit campaign speech. As a result, the door is now open for Minnesota judicial candidates to make promises to and solicit campaign contributions from special interest groups.

The national trend is more money and more negative campaigning
Some believe Minnesota’s judicial elections are not at risk. But after a review of what is happening, it is clear that big-money judicial campaigns are coming to Minnesota:

• During the past four elections, judicial candidates in contested races have spent over $155 million on their campaigns—and millions more have been spent by special interest groups and political parties.
• In 2000, only four of the 18 states with contested Supreme Court elections saw television advertising used for those elections. By 2006, 10 of the 11 states with contested elections experienced paid advertisements, with an average of $1.6 million spent in each state.
• Judicial candidates in these states have branched beyond advertising on qualifications or temperament. Sixty percent of negative ads in 2006 were paid for by candidate committees. Television advertising is not the only sign of changing judicial campaigns nationally. Special interest groups, in addition to spending an average of a half million dollars in each state in 2006, increased their use of candidate questionnaires to get judicial candidates to take positions on political issues and future cases.