Unlike candidates for other offices, would-be judges must abide by the Canons of Judicial Ethics, which largely restrain them from attacking their opponents. Those rules do not apply to the interest groups that hope to sway the election outcomes. It would certainly not be level if the trial lawyers were able to buy the Supreme Court again, like they did in the late '80s. But outspoken trial lawyer and former lieutenant governor Jere Beasley contends that the business groups are the ones buying the court system. November's elections will test his theory.
Businesses tend to like the arrangement because it reduces their exposure to potential lawsuits.
Trial lawyers object to the fact that arbitrators have the final ruling - and not, they say, simply because it cuts off their customers. Arbitration interferes with the right to trial by jury, say its opponents, and people are being misled or forced into the agreements. The two sides have lined up along partisan lines to try to elect judges more favorable to their points of view. The problem is not arbitration itself, Ford said. Arbitration also can be expensive.