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<v Speaker 1>To encourage Oklahoma's to get more acquainted with their state

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<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court. It's why we've set up the Oklahoma Judicial Scorecard.

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<v Speaker 1>To our knowledge, it's the first publicly available scorecard of

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<v Speaker 1>how Oklahoma Supreme Court justices have ruled on consequential cases

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<v Speaker 1>over the years. And that's Okla judges dot com ok

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<v Speaker 1>La judges dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, well, you know this is neat because we got

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<v Speaker 2>the election coming up and a lot of people we're

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<v Speaker 2>talking about this in the green room. We don't really

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<v Speaker 2>have a green room. I'm just kidding, but day and

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<v Speaker 2>we were talking beforehand that people say, yeah, wow, it's

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<v Speaker 2>the big presidential election. Well who else you're voting fort what?

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<v Speaker 2>And the downpote They get a little oh my, how

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<v Speaker 2>what am I doing? And this is kind of what

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<v Speaker 2>we're here to do. Thank you? We have how many

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<v Speaker 2>judges do we have running for the Supreme Court?

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you, sir. So there's non justices total on the court.

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<v Speaker 1>They have six year terms. They're staggered terms, so every

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<v Speaker 1>election cycle we usually have two or three up on

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<v Speaker 1>a retention vote. They don't run in Canada versus candidate elections,

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<v Speaker 1>but three of them are up in November for a

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<v Speaker 1>retention vote.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, let's talk about those for retention. How do these

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<v Speaker 2>score with your group?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, it's very interesting. A lot of folks are assumed

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<v Speaker 1>that because we have Republicans in control at the state

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<v Speaker 1>legislature and we have a Republican in the governor's office,

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<v Speaker 1>surely we have a right leaning state Supreme Court. That's

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<v Speaker 1>actually not the case. Outside groups outside of Oklahoma have

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<v Speaker 1>rated our state Supreme Court. It's the fourth most liberal

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<v Speaker 1>in the country. Only Maryland, West Virginia, and Hawaii have

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<v Speaker 1>more consistently liberal supreme courts. So the three who are

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<v Speaker 1>up this November, Justices Gurichkagar and Edmundson, have been three

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<v Speaker 1>of the most liberal on the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and

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<v Speaker 1>so they're up for a retention vote, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>yes or no whether to keep them on the court.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, and then we have other people who are running

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<v Speaker 2>for the at large positions.

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<v Speaker 1>Correct, No, it's just these three who are up for retention.

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<v Speaker 1>So if they if more than fifty percent of the

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<v Speaker 1>voters vote to not retain them, so vote no, then

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<v Speaker 1>these three will be out off of the court and

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<v Speaker 1>there will be three vacancies on the Supreme court that

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<v Speaker 1>will then need to be filled.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, now I'm understanding. Now this is how a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of folks are out there and driving in their car

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<v Speaker 2>going I did not know that. Absolutely. Yeah, so we've

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<v Speaker 2>got that all taken care of. That is super yes, wonderful. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>and tell us about some of the other folks who

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<v Speaker 2>are kind of up for this.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, So the three who are up for attention this November,

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<v Speaker 1>or Justices Gurich, Cougar, and Edmondson, they do not have

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<v Speaker 1>very high scores on the judicial scorecard at Oakland judges

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<v Speaker 1>dot com, which is basically just a look at how

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<v Speaker 1>did the justices on the court align with conservative judicial principle. Sure, so,

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<v Speaker 1>they've typically voted in sync with trial attorneys and the

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<v Speaker 1>trial bar on raising the cost of doing business in Oklahoma,

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<v Speaker 1>throwing out conservative reforms on lawsuit reform, at tort reform,

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<v Speaker 1>and workers comp perform that small businesses and manufacturing really

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<v Speaker 1>rely on those reforms to be able to keep their

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<v Speaker 1>doors open, and these folks have been throwing those reforms out.

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<v Speaker 1>They've also done some other interesting things too. A lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people remember during COVID and twenty a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>states on the coast in the Upper Midwest were throwing

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<v Speaker 1>out a lot of election protections, a lot of things

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<v Speaker 1>that secured, in particular mail in ballots, and our state

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<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court in Oklahoma did the same darn thing. They

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<v Speaker 1>weakened our mail in ballot laws and the security of

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<v Speaker 1>our elections here in Oklahoma. The Legislature was able to

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<v Speaker 1>come back in and shore it up somewhat, but our

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<v Speaker 1>mail in ballot laws are less secure now because of

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<v Speaker 1>these three justices. These are also the folks who you

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<v Speaker 1>may recall a few years ago there was a Ten

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<v Speaker 1>Commandments monument at our state capital that had been privately funded,

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<v Speaker 1>and the ACLU and literally the Church of Satan made

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<v Speaker 1>some noise about that, say, we have separation of church

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<v Speaker 1>and state here in America, and we shouldn't have that,

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<v Speaker 1>even though the Ten Commandments are on display at the

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<v Speaker 1>US Supreme Court, and our state Supreme Court sided with

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<v Speaker 1>the ACLU and the Church of Satan and said we've

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<v Speaker 1>got to get those out of the state capitol and

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<v Speaker 1>they are no longer there. And these are three of

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<v Speaker 1>the folks for attention, Gurich, Kauger and Edmondson who were

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<v Speaker 1>a part of that.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow, this is very important to know about your state

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<v Speaker 2>Supreme Court justices for a lot of folks who just

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<v Speaker 2>kind of casually just said, oh, well, you're getting the

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<v Speaker 2>big wake up call today.

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<v Speaker 1>We're trying to put this information in front of folks.

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<v Speaker 1>Some folks are going to say, well, I agree with

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<v Speaker 1>all those decisions, and so I want these folks to

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<v Speaker 1>stay on the court. So I'm going to vote yes

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<v Speaker 1>to retain them. That's their decision. Other folks are when

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<v Speaker 1>they learned some of these things, When they learned that

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<v Speaker 1>all three of these justices were appointed by former Democrat governors,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people think, well, we have a Republican

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<v Speaker 1>governor now, so all our justices must have been appointed

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<v Speaker 1>by them. That's not the case at all. And so

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<v Speaker 1>we are trying to put this info in front of

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<v Speaker 1>people and so they can make an informed decision.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, some of these have been around for many years.

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<v Speaker 2>We have some that have been on for what almost

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<v Speaker 2>twenty five years, and one who's a current justice. Again,

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<v Speaker 2>this has been on since nineteen eighty four.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, thank you for that question. So Justice Cougar has

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<v Speaker 1>been on the Oklahoma Supreme Court longer than Nancy Pelosi

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<v Speaker 1>has been in Congress, and is of a similar liberal

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<v Speaker 1>persuasion as Nancy Pelosi. So she's been on there quite

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<v Speaker 1>a long time. She's up for attention in November as

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<v Speaker 1>our girch and Edmondson, and yes vote would keep these

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<v Speaker 1>liberal folks on the court. A no vote would remove

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<v Speaker 1>them from the court and create an opening.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow. We tell us where we can find all this

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<v Speaker 2>information on your website.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much. Oaklad Judges dot com is the

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<v Speaker 1>Oklahoma judicial scorecard where you can look and see how

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<v Speaker 1>they voted on all these things, what their rulings have been.

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<v Speaker 1>Oklad Judges dot com, ok La judges dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow, this is incredible. And as far as your grouping

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<v Speaker 2>your website are concerned, you branch out, you cover a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of different parts of government as far as things

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<v Speaker 2>that you analyze correct, Yes.

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<v Speaker 1>Sir, thank you so much. Our groups have been around

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<v Speaker 1>starting in nineteen ninety three, not as long as Nancy

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<v Speaker 1>Pelosi has been in Congress, but a little while. And

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<v Speaker 1>we do stuff related to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, related

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<v Speaker 1>to our judicial climate and whether we're a jackpot justice

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<v Speaker 1>judicial hell whole state. So we do a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>stuff related to that, encouraging folks to get more plugged

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<v Speaker 1>in with what our state Supreme Court is doing and

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<v Speaker 1>be more aware. We also do stuff. We like low taxes,

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<v Speaker 1>we like less government in people's daily lives, government doing less,

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<v Speaker 1>letting individuals and people do more. We're all about free speech.

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<v Speaker 1>These justices have also ruled against a lot of free

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<v Speaker 1>speech protections in some cases that we've had here in Oklahoma.

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<v Speaker 1>You think, well, that's just over in California or on

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<v Speaker 1>the East Coast, it's actually starting to rear its head

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<v Speaker 1>some here in Oklahoma too, and these three folks on

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<v Speaker 1>the retention ballot have been a part of that. Those

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<v Speaker 1>are just a few of the areas that we work on.

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<v Speaker 1>Parental choice, in education, we're big on empowered bring parents

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<v Speaker 1>and education. These folks have gone sideways on that too.

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<v Speaker 2>David Bot, thank you very much for being with us today.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much for the opportunity.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh not a problem, folks, you've been watching and listening

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<v Speaker 2>to our community can