Kelli Wise
2011 - Present
2029
14
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Kelli Wise (Republican Party) is a judge of the Alabama Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2011. Her current term ends on January 15, 2029.
Wise (Republican Party) ran for re-election for judge of the Alabama Supreme Court. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Wise first became a member of the Alabama Supreme Court through a partisan election. She was first elected to the court in 2010 to the seat vacated by Patricia Smith (R). To read more about judicial selection in Alabama, 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.[1] Wise received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Wise earned her B.S. in biology from Auburn University in 1985, her J.D. from Jones School of Law in 1994, and her M.P.A. from Auburn University in Montgomery in 2000.[3] Prior to joining the court, she worked in private practice, in Gov. Fob James' (R) Legislative Office, and as a staff attorney to Justice Jean Brown.[3][4]
Wise was elected to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in 2000, becoming the youngest woman elected to serve on the Alabama Appellate Courts. Wise was re-elected in 2006 and became Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2008. She was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2010.[3] As of May 2021, she was a member of the Federalist Society.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Alabama Supreme Court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Alabama Supreme Court
Incumbent Kelli Wise won election in the general election for Alabama Supreme Court on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kelli Wise (R) | 97.5 | 998,043 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.5 | 25,490 | ||
| Total votes: 1,023,533 | |||
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Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Kelli Wise advanced from the Republican primary for Alabama Supreme Court.
2016
- See also: Alabama Supreme Court elections, 2016
Wise ran unopposed as a Republican to retain her seat on the Alabama Supreme Court.[6]
Incumbent Kelli Wise ran unopposed in the general election for the Alabama Supreme Court, Place 2.
| Alabama Supreme Court, Place 2, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican |  Kelli Wise Incumbent (unopposed) | |
2010
- Main article: Alabama judicial elections, 2010
| Alabama Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Kelli Wise (R)
|
912,463 | 62.9% | ||
| Rhonda Chambers (D) | 537,670 | 37% | ||
- Click here for 2010 General Election Results from the Alabama Secretary of State.
Justice Wise was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court seat vacated by Patricia Smith in 2010.[7] She ran against Democratic candidate Rhonda Chambers.
2006
| Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals 2006 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Kelli Wise (R)
|
643,492 | 56% | ||
| Claude Patton (D) | 505,680 | 44% | ||
- Click here for 2006 General Election Results from the Alabama Secretary of State.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kelli Wise did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
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.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- 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.
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Kelli
Wise
Alabama
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Held political office as a Republican
Partisan Profile
Details:
Wise ran as a Republican to gain her seat on the Alabama Supreme Court. She donated $10,751 to Republican candidates and organizations. Wise served in Gov. Fob James' (R) Legislative Office. She received donations and endorsements from Republican-affiliated organizations, including the Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee, the Business Council of Alabama, and the Alabama Farmers Federation. Alabama was a Republican trifecta at the time of her appointment.
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.
Wise received a campaign finance score of 0.73, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was less conservative than the average score of 0.79 that justices received in Alabama.
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.[10]
State supreme court judicial selection in Alabama
- See also: Judicial selection in Alabama
The nine justices on the Alabama Supreme Court are selected through partisan elections for six-year terms. They appear on partisan election ballots statewide and face re-election if they wish to serve again.[11] For more information about these elections, visit the Alabama judicial elections page.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- licensed to practice law for at least 10 years;
- a state resident for at least one year;
- under the age of 70 at the time of election (judges who turn 70 in office may serve until their terms expire).[12][13]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected by popular vote, serving in that office for his or her full six-year term.[11][14]
Vacancies
Should a vacancy occur between regularly scheduled elections, which take place in November of even-numbered years, an interim justice is appointed by the governor. Any justice appointed in this fashion must then stand for election in the next general election occurring at least one year after taking office.[11][15]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Footnotes
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Alabama Judicial System, "Associate Justice Alisa Kelli Wise," accessed May 19, 2021
- ↑ Troy Messenger "Supreme Court candidate Wise seeks local votes," November 13, 2009
- ↑ Bloomberg, "Alisa Kelli Wise," accessed May 19, 2021
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "2016 Official General Election Results," accessed May 19, 2021
- ↑ Press-Register "Alabama Supreme Court Place 1: Kelli Wise defeats Rhonda Chambers," November 2, 2010
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Alabama Judicial System, "Qualification of Judges," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Judicial Retirement Laws, "Alabama: Mandatory Retirement Provisions Applicable Generally," accessed August 10, 2021
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "Minimum Qualifications for Public Office," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Justia, "Article VI, Alabama Constitution - Section 152," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
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