Courting votes in Alabama

by Winthrop E. Johnson

A straight-forward telling of some amazing events that occurred in a major judicial election in Alabama. For example: No republican had ever been elected to the Alabama Supreme Court when this election occurred. Because of litigation by the loser's allies, the winner, a republican, could not take office for almost eleven months after the election, but the loser stayed in office. The federal court precedent of this case was used in the judicial controversy over the Bush-Gore election. In this book, there are some juicy tidbits about the loser of the election, the sitting Chief Justice, using his own staff to collect evidence in his own favor, even though appellate courts are not courts that collect evidence. If the events related in this book had taken place in a normal election, it would have been shocking, but that it happened in a judicial election is all the more shocking. The bottom line of this book was stated well by the federal courts: You cannot change the rules of an election