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JUSTICE LYN STUART ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN FOR RE-ELECTION TO ALABAMA SUPREME COURT IN 2012

Candidate emphasizes record of judicial experience, conservative philosophy and devotion to the rule of law

(Bay Minette)--- Pledging her commitment to continue as an effective, conservative member of the Alabama Supreme Court, Justice Lyn Stuart has decided to seek re-election in 2012. She is making a bid for her third term as an associate justice on the state’s highest court. Her current term expires in January 2013.

Justice Stuart will qualify with the Alabama Republican Party as a candidate for the March 13, 2012 statewide GOP Primary. There are five seats on the Supreme Court, including Stuart’s, up for election in the 2012 cycle. The General Election is November 6, 2012.

Stuart will highlight her vast professional experience as a much-needed strength on the court.

“I have served as a district, circuit and appellate judge over the last 22 years. I also had the privilege to serve as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney, so I have a deep knowledge and understanding of how our state’s legal system works from top to bottom.

“Our courts have been dealt substantial budget cuts with rising caseloads and increasing demands. It is crucial for our state to have someone with my background and experience who is hard-working and dedicated to the highest quality of work in extremely challenging times.”

Specifically, Stuart explains that her experience gives her the ability to keep her caseload moving without accumulating a backlog, which is important for both taxpayers who fund the courts and for the citizens who seek a resolution within them. She says that in all cases, she believes that justice must be timely, for “justice delayed is truly justice denied.”

Stuart also touts her conservative judicial philosophy as an important quality.

“My service is influenced by a conservative legal philosophy which is grounded in traditions and values that have been tested by time and proven to work.

“I believe our criminal justice system must serve and protect the victims. It must safeguard those most vulnerable to crime, like our children and elderly citizens, who look to the courts to uphold the rule of law in an often-lawless society. I also believe our civil justice system must be balanced and fair, while always recognizing the limits of judicial authority.”

A former prosecutor and judge from Baldwin County, she affirms her devotion to the rule of law.

“I do not have an agenda. I take my oath of office to the citizens of this state seriously. I believe in our Founding Fathers’ wise concept and design of the Separation of Powers. Particularly, I believe a judge’s responsibility is to interpret the law as written by the legislature, and it is not a judge’s role to be an activist or create law from the bench.”

Justice Lyn Stuart is a native of Atmore, Alabama. She attended public schools and graduated from Escambia County High School. She received her undergraduate degree with high honor from Auburn University in 1977 and graduated from The University of Alabama School of Law in 1980, where she served as Secretary of the Student Bar Association, was a member of the John A. Campbell Moot Court Board and received the Dean’s Service Award at graduation.

Upon graduation from law school, Justice Stuart worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama. She also served as Executive Assistant to the Commissioner and Special Assistant Attorney General for the State Department of Corrections. Upon moving to Baldwin County, she became an Assistant District Attorney on the staff of the county’s D.A.

In 1988, she was elected District Judge, and was re-elected in 1994. Governor Fob James appointed Justice Stuart to the Circuit bench in January 1997. She was elected, without opposition, to a six-year term in 1998. She was elected by statewide vote to the nine-member Supreme Court in 2000 and re-elected to a second term in 2006.

Justice Stuart was invited and served as a Faculty Advisor at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. She is a past president of the Alabama Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. She has served as a national speaker for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, training judges and other professionals on the handling of child abuse and neglect cases. She served as President of the Blue Ridge Institute for Juvenile and Family Court Judges in 2002.

Justice Stuart and her husband, George, are the parents to two sons, Tucker and Shepard, and a daughter, Kelly. She is a member and past president of several civic organizations: the Heritage Junior Women’s Club, the Bay Minette Kiwanis Club, and the Jubilee Women’s Clubs. Lyn and George are members of the First United Methodist Church of Bay Minette, where she has served as a member of the Administrative Board and the Board of Trustees, and teaches a Sunday School class.

Stuart concludes, “As I have since my first election in 1988, I am proud to run for office as a Republican. I’m proud to be a candidate of the party that represents my faith, my family and my conservative judicial philosophy.

“As I begin this re-election campaign, I pledge to run as positive and honorable a campaign as befits my office. We officeholders have been granted a special privilege and solemn responsibility to uphold the public’s trust. I have every intention to renew and preserve that trust if they see fit to re-elect me for another term in 2012.”