Cobb
MOBILE, Ala. - Sue Bell Cobb took the oath office Tuesday, becoming Alabama's first female Supreme Court chief justice in the court's history.
She becomes the only Democrat on the nine-member Supreme Court or among 19 appeals court judges in a court system known as pro-business.
According to a report from The Associated Press, the Republican justices sat quietly during Cobb's speech as she expressed her desire to have judges elected in non-partisan elections.
The Alabama Republican Party has even started a website -- www.slicksuebell.com -- that is designed "to document Judge Cobb's career as a liberal politician."
It adds that more than $500,000 of her campaign contributions in 2006 came from "liberal trial lawyers" and that Cobb would like to do away with the election system completely and have judges appointed.
She defeated Drayton Nabers in November's general election. She becomes the sixth female to serve on the court's bench in 188 years.