Folks close to the situation tell the Parlor that the Riley administration hopes to persuade Kelli Wise to step down a few days early from the Court of Criminal Appeals. As my email inbox explains, Riley would “then be able to appoint Judge Wise’s successor on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, rather than have that appointment be made by Bentley. The repeated justification is that the Riley people are convinced that Bentley intends to appoint Troy King to the Court of Criminal Appeals in the Wise spot.”
Wise was elected in November to the state Supreme Court seat opened up by Patti Smith’s decision not to run for re-election. One version of this story is that Riley would like for Smith to step down from the Supreme Court a few days before the end of her term so that Riley can appoint Wise early, creating the vacancy on the Court of Criminal Appeals that Riley would fill. This version would give Wise a rationale for leaving the Court of Criminal Appeals and would create no break in Wise’s service that might affect her pension or seniority.
The deterioration of the relationship between Riley and King is no secret. For example, see here, here, or here.
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