Judicial Selection In Tennessee: Deciding 'The Decider" '

Abstract

This article includes an overview of judicial selection in Tennessee, as well as providing the author's personal perspectives on the subject.

The quality of judges and the manner of selecting them matters; this is a basic premise underpinning the rule of law in the United States. From the inception of the United States’ democratic system, the judiciary’s Damoclean Sword has been the threat of subrogation at the hands of the Legislature, and perhaps the easiest way to rattle the sword has been to legislatively interfere with judicial selection — whether by changing the manner of appointment or by simply refusing to fill vacancies. The comments above span the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, and today in Tennessee the proverbial horse’s hair has never seemed more precarious.

Keywords: Tennessee Judicial Selection, Tennessee Judiciary