Politics Does Injustice to Alabama Appellate Courts!

Reform in seating and retaining appellate judges in Alabama might be boosted by the reports of a tacky e-mail from Champ Lyons III, son of Alabama Supreme Court Judge Champ Lyons Jr., to his father's opponent, Ben Hand of Opelika. Phillip Rawls of the AP via al.com is reporting "E-mail offers glimpse into Alabama judicial campaign" and The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer is carrying the same piece.

With a totally deserved tip of the tam to Wheeler at Alablawg, I can send you to Politics in Alabama for allegedly the entire e-mail. Good comments even if some seem a bit odd. And the wheeling and dealing in the Lyon's correspondence plus the link to Truth about Tom Parker, even if partly true, infuriates me.

I'm still terrified by radical judges like Roy Moore and Tom Parker. I also remain a touch disappointed in my friend Ben Hand making seemingly harsh statements on "activist" judges (click here for my take on "activist" judges) but I think he did the right thing to forward this e-mail across the state. I expect III is deep into his daddy's doghouse!

The Alabama State Bar has taken an active role in creating effective and fair processes that will not involve dreadful behavior such as illustrated above.

Our citizens deserve good judges that will simply follow the law and not go after the money and engage in unseemly political posturing. Peace ... or War!