Voters Deserve The Truth About Tennessee Supreme Court Justices - And Response (3)

I am an experienced trial lawyer, and, frankly, I am dismayed with the negative advertisements and mailers about three of our Tennessee Supreme Court Justices.  These mailers talk about the Justices being liberal and tie them to Obamacare.  Clearly, this propaganda attempts to focus attention away from the Justices themselves to political subjects sensitive to many Tennesseans.

The Tennessee Supreme Court is not political—it is fair and non-partisan.  The Tennessee Supreme Court does not handle federal matters—no issue related to Obamacare has ever been presented to our State Supreme Court as that Court cannot by law rule on federal matters.

The Justices are being attacked not on the basis of their experience or wisdom or performance on the bench, rather they are being attacked because of someone else’s agenda.

Our Courts were intended and created to be separate, fair, and impartial, without partisan politics.  The Judges and Justices take an oath to uphold the Constitution of our State, and of the United States. The Appellate Courts, including the Tennessee Supreme Court, interpret law based on existing law and the Constitution.

Each of these Justices, Chief Justice Wade, Justice Connie Clark, and Justice Sharon Lee, have been held by a performance evaluation commission to be properly doing their jobs, and to be qualified to continue or be retained as Supreme Court Justices.

Do not be misled—it is easy to make broad or negative statements about someone.  Please educate yourself on the issues and vote to retain our Tennessee Supreme Court Justices.

Jennifer H. Lawrence

Lawrence & Lawrence, PLLC

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I served in the Judicial System with all of the judges being falsely attacked by those with a political agenda.  Judge Wade is an extremely competent, fair and personable Chief Justice.  Connie Clark served as a trial judge, Administrator of the Courts, and on the Supreme Court. She is fair and impartial and has done a good job.  Sharon Bell served well on the Court of Appeals before being appointed to the Supreme Court.

I hope our voters can see this is an attempt by some in the legislative department to obtain control of the Judicial Department.

Please do not allow politics to affect the administration of justice.  Vote to retain those Supreme Court Judges.

Vann Owens
Retired Chancellor, 11th Judicial District

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I have personally known Connie Clark for 50 years. She has worked hard to obtain the skills needed to be a Supreme Court Justice.  Connie has been blessed with a brilliant analytical mind, and a strong sense of responsibility to use the gifts that have been given to her.  Connie has applied these gifts daily with her family, professionally, in her community and church. I trust her judgement without question.

Connie has a deep respect for the law and not one time has she ever acted as if she is above the laws of our state or country.  We should feel confident that the laws passed by our elected officials will be applied fairly to each case presented to the court. The review of Connie's work  by the committee appointed last fall by Lt. Governor Ramsey gave Connie an excellent rating.  This proves that Connie's deep respect for the law is applied with each decision she has to make daily.

I believe the voters of this state need to step up and vote to retain Justice Clark, Lee,and Wade.  All three Justices received an excellent review by Ramsey's committee.  The retention of these Justices will insure the separation of the branches of the Tennessee government.

Karen Corn Baxley

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