What's relevant about the inquiries into Judge Annunziata and Judge Askew? Some Democrats charge this year marks a change into deciding who gets judgeships based on personal and political beliefs, rather than judicial integrity and competence, according to this article. Last year, former judge Donald McGlothlin expressed the view, as in this article, that his reappointment was denied for personal rather than professional reasons. Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White is still the poster-child for judicial independence, and travels the country telling of how she was voted out in 1996, as described in this article.