Mother Jones: How Dark Money Is Taking Over Judicial Elections

Rise Up Times

 Fewer than two dozen big players were behind nearly $72 million in campaign spending on supreme court races nationwide between 2000 and 2012. They included business heavyweights such as the US Chamber of Commerce and partisan groups focused on specific races in states like Michigan (where an estimated $13-$18 million was spent in 2011-12) . . .

Most people don’t think about judicial elections until they find themselves staring at a group of unfamiliar names on the ballot. But judges are selected by voters in 39 states, whether in an initial election or a retention election after being appointed. The explainer below details how special-interest money has increasingly flooded the system over the last several decades—including the first ever set of data on campaign money in lower court races.

Best Little Courthouse in Texas

Historically, judicial elections involved little in the way of campaign spending, but in Texas in the…

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