Cornelia Clark
Cornelia Clark was a judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court Middle Section. She assumed office in 2005. She died of cancer on September 24, 2021.[1] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Clark was appointed to the court by Governor Phil Bredesen (D) in September 2005 and was retained by voters in August 2006 and 2014.[2] From 2010 to 2012, Clark served as the chief justice of the court.[3][4] To read more about judicial selection in Tennessee, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[5] Clark received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Clark received her B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1971, her M.A.T. from Harvard University in 1972, and her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1979.[2] After graduating from law school, Clark went into private practice until 1989, when she joined the 21st Circuit Court. In 1999, Clark was appointed administrative director of the Tennessee Courts. She was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2005.[2] Clark received the Williamson County Bar Association's Liberty Bell Award in 2005. She served as the vice president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference and dean of the Tennessee Judicial Academy from 1997 to 1998. She also served on the board of directors for the Conference of State Court Administrators from 2004 to 2005, and was the chairman of the Tennessee Judicial Council. Clark has held memberships in the Tennessee John Marshall American Inn of Court, the Henry Phillips American Inn of Court, the National Association of Women Judges, and was a founding member of the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women.[2]
Elections
2014
Clark was retained to the Tennessee Supreme Court with 55.3 percent of the vote on August 7, 2014.[7]
Three justices' seats were up for retention in 2014: Justices Gary R. Wade, Cornelia Clark and Sharon Lee. All three justices won retention.[8][9]
For a more comprehensive look at issues and news surrounding this election, click here.
2005
Clark was appointed to the court by Governor Phil Bredesen (D) in September 2005.[2]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Cornelia
Clark
Tennessee
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Appointed with retention - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Clark donated $9,550 to Democratic candidates. She was appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen (D).
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Clark received a campaign finance score of -0.4, indicating a liberal ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Clark received a campaign finance score of -0.4, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.02 that justices received in Tennessee.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[12]
State supreme court judicial selection in Tennessee
- See also: Judicial selection in Tennessee
The five justices on the Tennessee Supreme Court are selected through assisted appointment. The governor selects a nominee from a list of recommended candidates from a judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by the Tennessee General Assembly. Justices face retention elections at the end of their terms.[13][14][15]
The appointment system was adjusted in 2014 with the passage of a state ballot measure titled Tennessee Judicial Selection, Amendment 2. The measure added the required confirmation by the Tennessee legislature. While Tennessee state law changed in 2014 to eliminate the judicial nominating commission and require legislative approval of the governor’s appointee, Gov. Bill Haslam’s Executive Order No. 54 and Gov. Bill Lee’s subsequent Executive Order No. 87 re-established the judicial nominating commission for appointments. Accordingly, Tennessee’s process is effectively assisted appointment with legislative confirmation.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- authorized to practice law in the state;
- a state resident for five years; and
- at least 35 years old.[14]
Chief justice
According to the Tennessee Constitution, the justices of the supreme court select the chief justice.[16] The chief justice serves a four-year term.
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the governor appoints a replacement justice from a list from a judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by both chambers of the state legislature. If filling an interim vacancy, the appointee stands for retention in the next general election at least 30 days after the vacancy occurred. The retained judge serves out the remainder of the unexpired term before again running for retention to serve a full eight-year term.[13][14] Judges are voted upon by the voters of the whole state.[17]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ AP News, "Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia Clark dies," September 24, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Tennessee State Courts, "Justice Cornelia A. Clark," accessed June 5, 2014
- ↑ TN Courts.gov, Press Release, "Justice Gary R. Wade to be Sworn as New Chief Justice on September 1, 2012," August 28, 2012
- ↑ The Chattanoogan.com, "Cornelia Clark To Become State's 2nd Female Chief Justice," archived October 7, 2015
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Unofficial Election Results," archived August 11, 2014
- ↑ Kingsport Times-News, "Tennessee Supreme Court justices vow to defend seats against Ramsey-led attacks," archived July 14, 2014
- ↑ Kingsport Times-News, "Some expect costly, divisive justice campaign in Tennessee," archived July 23, 2014
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Justia Law, "Tennessee Code Annotated § 17-4-101," accessed April 16, 2025 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "VacancyCode" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Tennessee," archived September 11, 2014
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Tennessee; Judicial Nominating Commissions," accessed September 30, 2021
- ↑ TNCourts.gov, "JUSTICE SHARON LEE ELECTED CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT," August 14, 2014
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Tennessee," accessed August 5, 2016
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee
State courts:
Tennessee Supreme Court • Tennessee Court of Appeals • Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals • Tennessee Circuit Court • Tennessee Chancery Courts • Tennessee Criminal Court • Tennessee Probate Court • Tennessee General Sessions Court • Tennessee Juvenile Court • Tennessee Municipal Court
State resources:
Courts in Tennessee • Tennessee judicial elections • Judicial selection in Tennessee
