NEW REPORT! The Politics Of Judicial Elections, 2000-2009: Decade Of Change

It has long been clear that special interest campaign spending poses a threat to judicial independence. Now this new report shows: it is worse than many thought. The study looks at comprehensive data and reveals that fundraising for state Supreme Court elections has doubled in the past decade -- from $83.3 million during the 1990s to $206.9 million. This report found many John Grisham-style instances where special interests and even litigants pour funds into races trying to tilt the scales of justice their way. The recent Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United, likely will make matters worse.

"The crisis of confidence in the judiciary is real and growing," O'Connor warns. "Left unaddressed, the perception that justice is for sale will undermine the rule of law that the courts are supposed to uphold," wrote retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in the forward to the report.

The Brennan Center for Justice coauthored the study with the Justice at Stake Campaign and the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Click here for the full report.