Showdown on Supreme Court selection

Bredesen seeks declaratory judgement on judicial selection process in Davidson County Chancery Court

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Phil Bredesen

At the request of Gov. Phil Bredesen, state Attorney General Paul Summers has filed suit today in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking a declaratory judgement in the ongoing Tennessee Supreme Court judicial selection saga.

Bredesen and the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission have been at loggerheads for the past month over who will replace the recently retired Justice A. A. Birch. Birch was the first and only African-American ever to serve on the high court.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether the selection commission gave Bredesen a "full slate of nominees" when they resubmitted the name of Covington attorney J. Houston Gordon for consideration on a second slate of nominees.

Bredesen had previously rejected Gordon along with Memphis attorney George T. "Buck" Lewis III, who are both caucasian, when Davidson County Chancellor Richard Dinkins, who is African-American, whithdrew his name from the first slate submitted by the selection commission. The reason Bredesen gave for the rejection was that he wanted a new slate that "reflected diversity."

Selection commision member Barry Ward, a Memphis attorney, took exception to Bredesen's reasons for the rejection and spearheaded an initiative that allowed Gordon and Lewis to reapply, despite an opinion from Summers that said the law barred them from further consideration.

Earlier this month, the commission further enflamed the debate when it resubmitted Gordon on a slate with Memphis Judge D'Army Bailey and Nashville Judge Bill Koch. State law clearly states that the governor must pick from the "second panel" if he rejects the first.

The move was seen by many as an attempt by some members of the selection commission to box Bredsen into picking Gordon. The African-American nominee, Bailey, is believed by many to be too liberal a choice for Bredesen to pick, especially in an election year. Koch, who is widely praised for his legal acumen, is a Republican, and choosing him would make the court all-white again. Gordon, who is a former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and former chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, is seen as the choice of Tennessee trial lawyers.