There was great news today on the legal front with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear a challenge to North Carolina’s system of publicly financed judicial campaigns. North Carolina allows candidates participating in its Clean Elections program to ask for and receive additional funding when their opponents and independent groups exceed spending thresholds.  The Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice worked successfully to defend North Carolina’s program through several court challenges.  “This is an important decision in the battle to protect our elective state courts from the undue influence of wealthy contributors,” Laura MacCleery, deputy director of the Democracy Program, said in a statement. “The Court’s denial preserves an innovative campaign finance system and protects judicial candidates in North Carolina from going hat-in-hand to the very parties and lawyers who may appear before them in court.”  Clean Elections have proven popular in North Carolina with participation by 11 of the 12 candidates running in tomorrow’s general election for the state’s top contested judicial seats. Additionally, four out of six candidates for statewide Council of State offices chose to use public funding.  In North Carolina’s 2006 judicial elections, eight out of 12 candidates on the general election ballot qualified for funds. These numbers represent strong, positive change from the 2002 general election when judicial candidates received 73 percent of their non-family campaign money from attorneys, special-interest PACs, and other political committees, according to Democracy North Carolina.  These candidates received just 14 percent of their contributions from these sources in the 2004 general election, the first under the new public funding system.