State Courts Guide Alabama - State Courts Guide

State High Court	Judicial Selection Process	Legal Authority
Supreme Court of Alabama	General In a partisan primary election, the candidate who receives a majority of the votes is placed on the ballot for the general election. If no one receives a majority, the two candidates who received the highest total votes face off in a second primary. The candidate who wins a party’s primary election is placed on the ballot for the general election. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes in the general election is appointed to the Supreme Court of Alabama. If there is a tie, the legislature, by joint vote, chooses one of the candidates for judicial office. Interim Vacancies Vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the Governor. The appointee shall hold his office until the next general election for any state officer held at least six months after the vacancy occurs, and until his successor is elected and qualified. The successor chosen at such election shall hold office for the unexpired term and until his successor is elected and qualified.	Alabama CONST. art. VI § 151 Alabama Code §§ 12-2-1 Alabama Code §§ 17-12-22 Alabama Code §§ 17-13-18 Alabama CONST. art. VI § 158

State High Court

Judicial Selection Process

Legal Authority

General

In a partisan primary election, the candidate who receives a majority of the votes is placed on the ballot for the general election.
If no one receives a majority, the two candidates who received the highest total votes face off in a second primary.
The candidate who wins a party’s primary election is placed on the ballot for the general election.
The candidate who receives the highest number of votes in the general election is appointed to the Supreme Court of Alabama.
If there is a tie, the legislature, by joint vote, chooses one of the candidates for judicial office.

Interim Vacancies

Vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the Governor.
The appointee shall hold his office until the next general election for any state officer held at least six months after the vacancy occurs, and until his successor is elected and qualified. The successor chosen at such election shall hold office for the unexpired term and until his successor is elected and qualified.

Latest News

Duties to the Unborn: Alabama Supreme Court Deems Viability Irrelevant to Fetal Wrongful-Death Actions

April Mack sued to recover for the wrongful death of her unborn child, who miscarried after a car accident. The Alabama Supreme Court ultimately vindicated her right to recovery, despite her having miscarried her child before the point of viability. In order to do so, the court found that viability made no sense as a prerequisite to wrongful-death recovery, holding an unborn child’s gestational age irrelevant as a matter of law. Conspicuously, the court never saw fit to even mention the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence and its treatment of viability.