All of the candidates for state Supreme Court who were allied with Moore and Associate Justice Tom Parker lost (including Parker’s bid to become Chief), Incumbents win four Alabama Supreme Court races:

_Chief Justice Drayton Nabers Jr. beat Associate Justice Tom Parker 215,809-144,085 votes, or 60 percent to 40 percent, for the top administrative position in Alabama’s court system. Parker is a close ally of ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost his GOP primary race against Gov. Bob Riley by similar margin.

_In the race for Place 1, Associate Justice Champ Lyons defeated Opelika attorney Ben Hand 188,011-130,716, or 59 percent to 41 percent.

_Associate Justice Tom Woodall led Hank Fowler, a staff attorney for Parker, 221,355 votes to 89,484, or 71 percent to 29 percent, for Place 2.

_Place 3 Associate Justice Lyn Stuart lead Alan Zeigler, a Birmingham attorney, 229,955-95,718, or 71 percent to 29 percent.

_Civil Appeals Judge Glenn Murdock had 194,324 votes, or 62 percent — more than enough to avoid a runoff in the three-way race for Place 4. Former Associate Justice Jean Brown had 81,616 votes, or 26 percent, and Prattville attorney Tracy Gwyn BirdSong trailed with 39,595 votes, or 13 percent.

Of course, the fun part is that Parker still has two years left on the Court as an Associate Justice:

Parker will remain on the court in his associate justice slot, and Nabers said the nature of their working relationship after a tough campaign was “a good question.”

“I can promise the citizens that the Alabama Supreme Court will get its work done and get it done on time,” said Nabers.

Parker pledged to both support the Republican judicial ticket in the fall and work with Nabers and other members of the court. “We will work together to work through our differences,” he said.

Via the AP: Riley tops Moore in Alabama GOP race for governor

Republican Gov. Bob Riley turned back Alabama’s ousted Ten Commandments judge, Roy Moore, in the GOP primary Tuesday. On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley defeated former Gov. Don Siegelman, who spent election day standing trial on bribery charges.

With 99% of the vote counted, Riley trounced Moore 67-33 and Baxley crushed Siegelman 60-36.

Riley should be viewed as the clear favorite for November.

Not surprisingly, the anti-gay marriage amendment is winning in a landslide: 81-19.

Up-to-date numbers here.

With 36% of the precincts counted, the AP has called the GOP for Riley:

Riley 65.42%
Moore 34.58%

They haven’t called it for Baxley as yet, but she is cruising for a big win as well, it would seem.

Here.

With 6% of the vote in, Riley has a 39 point lead.

Baxley is up by 9.

So far there are no serious results as yet, but I will post info as I find it.

According to one local TV station the results have been unusually slow so far.

From an editorial in today’s Montgomery Advertiser: Parker deserves colleague’s criticism

It is extremely unusual, if not unprecedented, for a sitting state Supreme Court justice to hold a press conference to support one of his colleagues and oppose another. But that is what Alabama Supreme Court Justice Mike Bolin did this week.

Bolin not only spoke out in favor of the candidacy of Chief Justice Drayton Nabers, but he openly was critical of Associate Justice Tom Parker, who is running against Nabers in the Republican Party’s primary on June 6.

Usually justices not up for re-election do not get publicly involved in another justice’s race, and it is almost unheard of for a justice to publicly criticize another justice with whom they have to work.

Bolin, who was elected to the Supreme Court in 2024, said he has worked with both candidates for chief justice for the past two years.

“While Tom Parker’s tenure has been marked by divisiveness, an activist judicial philosophy and an inability to do his job, Chief Justice Nabers is a hard worker and strong conservative leader who runs the court fairly, effectively and with integrity,” Bolin said.

This really is a wild race–and one can’t help but think that the working relationships at the Court will be quite damaged by Parker’s choice to challenge Nabers.

Bolin ran against, and beat, a Moore-allied candidate in 2024.

Via the AP: Five high court seats at stake in divisive GOP primary

In the GOP primary:

_Associate Justice Tom Parker, an ally of ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore, opposed Chief Justice Drayton Nabers Jr. for the top administrative position in Alabama’s court system.

_Opelika lawyer Ben Hand tried to unseat Associate Justice Champ Lyons Jr. for Place 1 on the court.

_Hank Fowler, a staff attorney for Parker, challenged Associate Justice Tom Woodall for Place 2.

_Alan Zeigler, a Birmingham attorney, opposed Associate Justice Lyn Stuart for Place 3.

_Former Associate Justice Jean Brown, Civil Appeals Judge Glenn Murdock and Prattville attorney Tracy Gwyn BirdSong sought the nomination for the Place 4 seat.

With Fowler we have another Moore-ite trying to unseat one of the Republicans who helped in Moore’s ouster. Ben Hand is also a recruite of Moore/Parker.

Meanwhile, Brown was also one of the Associate Justices who sided against Moore and she was beaten by Parker for the GOP nomination in 2024.

The permutations are bizarre. I would expect Nabors to win the primary, but as best I can tell that means that he and Parker, after a very nasty campaign, will then have to work together on the court for two more years, as I don’t think that Parker had to resign to run for the nomination.

Meanwhile, if Jean Brown wins that means two years with the guy who took her sear away–either as another Associate, or as Chief.

It is a rather odd time in the Alabama GOP these days–at least on the high court.

Actually, it is from the June 3rd edition of the Montgomery Advertiser, but I just saw it (montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Chief justice race reaches boiling point):

Jere Beasley, a Montgomery attorney, said the public is probably turned off by the race.

“The thing that really concerns me is we’ve let this get so totally out of hand that we’re running for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court like you would run for coroner in Elmore County,” he said.

Yup.

He is referring to the race for the GOP nomination to run for the Chief Justice slot. The incumbent is being challenged by Associate Justice Tom Parker, who was just elected in 2024. Not only has the race been ugly, it is noteworthy because Parker is part of the Roy Moore wing of the GOP.

As the story noted:

The Republican race for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court hit a low point this week as both candidates attacked each other through the media and in campaign ads, leading one legal expert to describe this year’s race as one of the nastiest in state history.

Via the AP: Siegelman spends election in court as witness recalls flights

While other candidates spent election day amid the hubbub of last-minute campaigning, former Gov. Don Siegelman was in federal court Tuesday for procedural tedium and testimony about his flights on a political insider’s plane in the late 1990s.

Siegelman and his wife, Lori, voted at a polling place near their home in Birmingham at 7 a.m. Tuesday and hurried to Montgomery to be in place as testimony was beginning shortly after 8:30 a.m. on the 25th day in his government corruption trial.

Siegelman said he was trying to act as much like a candidate as possible Tuesday and when court ended for the day at midafternoon, he said he was going to campaign outside several polling places in the Montgomery area.

This really is a fairly pathetic scene.

Even if he is innocent is as the day is long, he should have cleared his name, and then returned to politics.

This whole thing is an unseemly waste of time and money.