More meddling?

The effort by big business and other special interest groups to affect the outcome of the race for Georgia Supreme Court was thwarted by the voters on November 7. Justice Carol Hunstein soundly defeated challenger Mike Wiggins in the non-partisan race. Voters clearly saw through the effort by a handful of big spenders, led by the so-called "Safety and Prosperity Coalition", to begin "stacking" the court with judges who would be more sympathetic to their cause.

Now comes the Southeastern Legal Foundation, another right-wing lobbyist group, who will make an effort to transform the court by adding justices and/or by making election to the court a partisan process. We suppose they think that Georgia voters are more inclined to vote Republican in judicial races, based on the success of the GOP in recent statewide elections.

We are suspicious of any effort to modify the high courts of this state by any group with a political or social agenda.

Corruption in the top levels of government has reached an all-time high. Members of the United States Congress have been indicted and convicted of influence peddling in alarming numbers over the past few years. Big money is clearly wielding great influence in the legislative and executive levels of both state and national governments. How much that influence has reached the Georgia General Assembly may be tested in the next session when this court "stacking" effort begins.

The judiciary is still relatively untainted by the politics of big business. Let's keep it that way. We hope the legislature will see the wisdom of leaving the courts alone.