To the Editor:
I am a lawyer in [City]. I am proud to work in Tennessee, and I am writing about an issue
that is important to all fair-minded Tennesseans.
We have one branch of government that is devoted to fairness, and that is the judiciary. In
August, several Tennessee judges are up for a statewide, nonpartisan election. These
judges were appointed on their merits—not because they ran expensive political campaigns
or made promises. The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission recommended all of
these judges for retention.
These types of elections are designed to keep politics out of the courts. Tennesseans
deserve fair and impartial judges on the appellate bench—not politicians. No matter what
your political party, justice should not go to the highest bidder, particularly from people
outside the state who send in money to try to buy our courts.
Unfortunately, it is easy to overlook Tennessee’s statewide, nonpartisan judicial elections
because they appear at the bottom of ballot and often do not receive much media attention.
Fair and impartial courts are the cornerstone of our democracy. I encourage all
Tennesseans to vote on August 7th and be sure to go to the bottom of the ballot and vote
“Retain” for our appellate judges to keep Tennessee courts fair.
Sincerely,
[Name]