Applicants for TN Supreme Court Vacancy

UPDATE: My recommendations are playing out well so far. Sharon Lee made the cut; Nancy Miller-Herron didn't.

UPDATE: Sharon Lee got the nod!

From the Tennessee Supreme Court's website:

The Judicial Selection Commission met in Nashville on Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, and recommended the following three applicants to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his consideration to fill the Supreme Court vacancy being created by the Sept. 15 retirement of Chief Justice William. M. Barker.

Sharon G. Lee
Court of Appeals Judge
Knoxville, Tennessee

D. Bruce Shine
Law Offices of Shine & Mason
Kingsport, Tennessee

John Westley McClarty
Sole Practitioner
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Now it's up to Governor Bredesen. Lobby him for your selection.

My thoughts on the original group are simply this:

I like this Sharon Lee of the Court of Appeals, not because she is a woman but because she has shown the guts to declare legislation unconstitutional in a recent high-profile case.

I do not think Nancy Miller-Herron should be appointed, again not because she is a woman but because her husband is a State Senator, and that would bring us back to the situation we had when Annabelle Clement O'Brien was a State Senator and her husband was on the Supreme Court. That sort of insider appointment doesn't strike me as maintaining the separation of powers.