This election year, Alabama voters will get a chance to elect a new justice to the Alabama Supreme Court. Justice Mike Bolin, the former probate judge of Jefferson County, is term limited out this year because he is over the age of 70.
One Birmingham defense attorney says he’s right for the job because he has experience in election law.
Supreme Court Justice candidate Greg Cook joined FM Talk 106.5’s “Midday Mobile” to discuss why he’s running for the open seat.
“I believe in election law, believe in election security,” Cook said, “and after what we’ve seen in this last election it really meant a lot to me to say ‘look we need someone on the court who knows election law really well and cares about following the law, the letter of the law.”
The defense attorney outlined his experience with cases involving election issues.
“I had been the lawyer for the Alabama Republican Party for many years,” he explained. “I have done a trial for them to set aside an election. I have conducted a recount to handle, cause in the primaries if there’s a recount the Party has to run the recount. I’ve been the hotline on election day for the party. If someone has a problem and they call the Republican Party they get me. I even went to Florida for the Bush Gore hanging chad fight.”
Cook also explained how other state supreme courts’ decisions got it wrong on the 2020 election.
“I’m particularly interested in what happened in Pennsylvania because their supreme court agreed with their secretary of state, who was a Democrat, and the supreme court in Pennsylvania has a Democratic majority, and they let the secretary of state in Pennsylvania ignore some of the written laws,” he outlined. “And that really should just never happen, and it’s very important you follow the laws the legislature has passed.”
The candidate said if he’s elected, he would act like a judge and not a legislator.
“The legislature is the one that makes the laws, not the executive and not the courts,” he protested. “If I’m fortunate enough to be elected, I will not be legislating from the bench. I will be following the written laws, the written constitution that the legislature passes, not deciding what I think the laws should be.”
Cook has been endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federation and is running against Anniston Circuit Judge Debra Jones.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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