UT to host forum on judicial politics

3/30/2001

The University of Toledo College of Law will host a wide-ranging discussion today about the selection of state and local judges that will include experts from around the nation.

The day-long discussion comes on the heels of one of the most acrimonious judicial elections in Ohio's history, in which state Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick survived a bruising attack on her way to re-election to another six-year term.

The conference will include discussions of campaign finance reform, restrictions placed on judicial candidates by state codes of judicial conduct, independent expenditure campaigns in judicial races, and restrictions placed on a judicial candidate's speech during a campaign, said Kory Swanson, director of the Stranahan National Issue Forum, which is based at the law school.

Panelists for the forums include lawyers, judges, and state supreme court justices from Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, Maryland, Alabama, North Carolina, and Washington.

The event is sponsored by the Stranahan group and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy, a free-market Libertarian think-tank in Washington. The event at the law school's auditorium is open to the public, and it will be webcast live at http://video.utoledo.edu, beginning at 9 a.m.