Supreme Court selection process heats up amid furor

Judicial Selection Commission averts lawsuit, ignores Attorney General, says Governor acted unconstitutionally

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

The Tennessee Judicial Selection commission voted 8 to 7 today to reconsider all applications for the remaining vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court, after a contentious debate over a resolution sponsored by Memphis attorney Barry Ward.

The resolution Ward sponsored called for all applicants that applied before the initial July 17 deadline to be considered once again as potential applicants for the remaining vacancy on the Supreme Court. Applicants now have one week to withdraw their names from consideration.

The crux of this decision is that the selection commission has chosen to ignore an opinion by Attorney General Paul Summers that concluded that two of the applicants, Covington attorney J. Houston Gordon and Memphis attorney George T. "Buck" Lewis III, could no longer be considered because they were on a slate rejected by Gov. Phil Bredesen.

The move also seems to take the wind out of the sails of a potential lawsuit by Gordon, who had asked the selection commission to reconsider his application. If the commission had followed the Attorney General's opinion, Gordon, according to several attorneys speaking to NashvillePost.com, would have then have had standing to file a lawsuit against the commission for rejecting his application.

In arguing for his proposal, Ward said that Bredesen's rejection of the commission's first slate was unconstitutional because Gordon and Lewis were rejected based soley on race.

Gordon and Lewis, who are white, were recommended to Bredesen along with Davidson County Chancellor Richard Dinkins. Dinkins, who withdrew his name from consideration, was the only African-American in a postion to replace the Supreme Courts sole African-American jurist, A. A. Birch.

Ward argued that state law demands that when rejecting a panel or potential jursists, the governor must give his reasons for the rejection. According to Ward, Bredesen's Aug. 9 letter to the commission stated that his rejection was based on a need for diversity was unconstitutional because it gave no other reason for dismissing the candidates.

Arguing passionately against the measure were Knoxville District Attorney General Randy Nichols and Alamo attorney Jim Emison. Emison disputed Wade's assertion that Bredesen's rejection was unconstitutional and insisted that a "quest for a racially diverse panel" was a reasonable objective.

After Ward's resolution passed, the commissioners then agreed that applications for the remaining vacancy will stay open until Tuesday, August 29, and that they will meet to review the applications to recommend to Bredesen on September 5.