MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAFF) – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama (ACLU-AL) advocated in a preliminary hearing on Monday to block a move to take a judgeship from Jefferson County and move it to Madison County.
According to the legal director for ACLU-AL, the Alabama Judicial Resources Allocation Commission lacks constitutional authority to move the judgeship to Madison County.
“Today’s hearing was the first step in what we anticipate will be a long process to prove that Alabama’s Judicial Resources Allocation Commission lacks the constitutional authority to eliminate the Tenth Judicial Circuit, Place 14 judgeship in Jefferson County,” Tish Gotell Faulks said in a statement. “What’s most disappointing is that our case would be unnecessary if the state legislature were to do its job and appropriately fund our state’s court system. Both Madison and Jefferson Counties need a full slate of judges for the state’s courts to do its work efficiently, and we will continue fighting for fair representation.”
The SPLC and ACLU-AL filed Hudson v. Ivey on July 15, challenging the move by the Alabama Judicial Resources Allocation Commission to transfer a vacant judge position in Jefferson County to Madison County.
Governor Kay Ivey appointed Patrick Tuten to the position on July 18. Tuten has two decades of law experience and is known for his involvement with the Republican Executive Committee in Madison County and the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
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