The president of the American Bar Association is an Alabamian and he is appalled at the $5 million plus spent this year on a race for state Supreme Court associate justice.

Appellate Judge Greg Shaw edged out Deborah Bell Paseur in what was probably the most expensive judicial race in the country.

The spending started over something called “jackpot justice,” or big jury verdicts. But the jackpots today go to winning candidates. The candidate spending the most money usually has the edge in these court races. Judge Shaw won, barely, because they each spent in excess of $2 million.

Judge Shaw’s money came from Republican business interests; Judge Paseur found trial lawyers to be her best friends.

That’s been the recent history of Alabama Supreme Court races. Alabama led the nation in Supreme Court campaign spending, with $54 million raised by candidates from 1993 through 2006.

As president of the American Bar, Thomas Wells Jr. wants a May summit to address this shameful buying of court seats. He’s urging judicial, legislative and executive branch officials from each state to gather in Charlotte, N.C., in May to talk about courts and who they should be serving.

He noted that more money went to the Alabama court race than goes to providing access to the courts for people of limited means. The goal, he said, is to find a plan for promoting fair and impartial courts.

His will be a difficult assignment as long as both sides that finance these campaigns want neither fair courts nor impartial courts. Also, national polls show that more than three in four Americans believe contributions affect judges’ decisions.