The Constitutional Law PAC is a political action committee

Political action committee

In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...

 formed in the state of Washington to help elect candidates to the Washington State Supreme Court and Washington State Court of Appeals. The Constitutional Law PAC has a center-right orientation.

Conservatives have expressed concerns that the group's leadership is too liberal, while liberals have criticized the committee as a conservative attempt to influence judicial elections.

Candidate Evaluation Committee

The Candidate Evaluation Committee was chaired by Former King County

King County, Washington

King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....

 Prosecutor Christopher T. Bayley a moderate Republican. Members of the committee were Seattle labor attorney Jerry Rubin of the law firm Stoel Rives

Stoel Rives

Stoel Rives LLP is a U.S. business law firm with 11 office locations in seven U.S. states. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon in the Standard Insurance Center, it is the 134th largest law firm in the United States, making it the largest law firm in the state of Oregon, and one of the largest in the...

 (Democrat), Chehalis attorney Renee’ Remund of the firm Vander Stoep, Remund and Blinks (Republican) and Senior Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Phil Sorenson (Democrat).
In 2006 the committee formed a bi-partisan Candidate Evaluation Committee to issue rating for appellate level judicial candidates in Washington State. The committee issued two ratings for each candidate: "Judicial Qualifications" and "Judicial Philosophy".

Judicial Qualifications

The Judicial Qualifications rating relied on similar criteria to those used by the King County Bar Association  and other bar associations. The possible ratings were “Very Well Qualified”, “Well Qualified”, “Qualified” and “Unqualified”.

Judicial Philosophy

The committee based its "Judicial Philosophy" rating reflects on their understanding of a candidate’s “deference to the law, constitution and established legal precedent.” An “A” was used to indicate that the candidate showed complete deference to the law, constitution and established legal precedent. A “B” was awarded for significant deference, a “C” for partial deference, a “D” for insufficient deference and an “F” for little or no deference.

Ratings

The committee rated four incumbent judges as “Very Well Qualified”, Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander

Gerry L. Alexander

Gerry L. Alexander was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Washington. He was elected to the court in 1994 and re-elected in 2000. Following this election, his colleagues elected him to a four-year term as chief justice. He was re-elected as chief justice in 2004 and...

, Judge Ronald E. Cox of the Court of Appeals, Judge Marlin Appelwick of the Court of Appeals, and Judge David Armstrong

David Armstrong

David Armstrong may refer to:*Dave Armstrong , American Catholic apologist and author*Dave Armstrong , Canadian record producer*Dave Armstrong , New Zealand scriptwriter...

 of the Court of Appeals. State Senator Stephen Johnson

Stephen Johnson

Stephen Johnson may refer to:* Stephen C. Johnson, computer scientist, mathematician and Unix specialist* Stephen E. Johnson, U.S. Navy admiral...

 was the only non-incumbent rated Very Well Qualified.

Two candidates were rated “Unqualified”, conservative Supreme Court challenger Jeanette Burrage and Joel M. Penoyar who was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2005.

Important names

• Chairman of the Board: Former Republican
  Republican Party (United States)
  The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
  
   Senator
  United States Senate
  The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
  
   Slade Gorton
  Slade Gorton
  Thomas Slade Gorton III is an American politician. A Republican, he was a U.S. senator from Washington state from 1981 to 1987, and from 1989 to 2001. He held both of the state's Senate seats in his career and was narrowly defeated for reelection twice as an incumbent: in 1986 by Brock Adams, and...
  
  
• Board Members: Christopher T. Bayley, Anthony Sternola, Marianne Jones and Alex Hays
• Executive Director: Alex Hays
• Chairman, Candidate Evaluation Committee: Christopher T. Bayley.