TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Brittany Sims on Sep 12, 2014

As part of Gavel to Gavels’ review of Tennessee’s Amendment 2, the publication compares the final provision regarding the retention election for appellate judges with similar provisions in others states. Twenty states provide for some form of retention election at some stage in the judge’s career, however they don’t all operate quite the same. Sixteen states use the typical retention system: a judge is initially appointed to the bench and then serves for a short period of time. The judge then must receive a simple majority of votes in a yes/no retention race to receive a full term. The language of the question also varies by state with some using “yes/no” and others “retain/replace.”