The presidential candidates and tort reform

Although the Pennsylvania primary is now decided, there is still no Democratic nominee, so there's still time to review the tort reform positions advocated by the three remaining major Presidential candidates.

Although the national issue of tort reform has focused on the medical malpractice and health insurance arenas, changes in those areas could obviously start a slippery slope and have implications in other areas of personal injury litigation.

Another important consideration is each candidate's criteria for the selection of future members of the United States Supreme Court and the Federal bench.

As noted below, the last remaining major Presidential candidates have different platforms on these important issues.

Legal background of the candidates

Some voters may consider candidates based upon the extent of their legal background.

Sen. Hillary Clinton is a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School but did not go into a career of personal injury civil litigation. According to her biographies on her campaign Web site and on the Washington Post Web site, she instead focused her efforts on advocating children's rights, working to advance her husband's early political career, and even teaching criminal and constitutional law for a time at the University of Arkansas School of Law.