We are pleased to share our 2011 Annual Report, which highlights our work during the past year and also peeks forward into 2012. We are honored to...

Chosen by a vote of his fellow justices, Matthew Durrant was sworn in as chief justice. Durrant replaces Christine Durham, who stepped down after ten years as chief but remains on the court.

Governor Daniels selected attorney Mark Massa to replace the retiring Randall Shepard on the supreme court. The state judicial nominating commission will choose one of the five sitting justices to replace Shepard as chief justice. Indiana is one of three states with no women justices on the highest court.

Having raised $1.2 million and received Mayor Emanuel’s endorsement, Mary Jane Theis defeated her opponents in the Democratic primary by a 2-1 margin. Theis was appointed to fill a supreme court vacancy in 2010 and will face the Republican candidate in November to keep her seat.

On March 14, Senate leaders agreed to move forward with confirmation votes for 14 judicial nominees who had earned unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The deal avoided the need for procedural votes to force confirmation votes through the Senate floor. On March 15, the Senate overwhelming voted to confirm two federal district court judges.

Dean Chemerinsky’s most recent law review article on meaningful law school reform discusses clinical/experiential learning, the need for giving feedback to students, and the realities of budget limitations. “Legal education has changed remarkably little in over a century," he notes. “Change is long overdue.”

For the first time in history, the senate judiciary committee rejected a supreme court nominee. Governor Christie attributed the 7-6 vote not to confirm his nominee to an attempt by Democrats to appease unions after voting last year to revamp public employee health insurance and pension benefits.

The house judiciary committee approved by a 9-6 vote a measure that would constitutionalize the Tennessee Plan for selecting judges.

A district court judge struck down a ballot referendum scheduled for the June primary that called for the election of supreme court justices by district rather than statewide. According to the judge, the measure would alter the constitutional qualifications for service on the supreme court.

In anticipation of confirmation hearings for Governor Christie’s two supreme court appointees, public employees unions expressed concern to the senate about the governor’s partisan approach to judicial appointments. They allege that the governor selected a Republican “posing as an independent” in order to observe the tradition of party balance on the supreme court.

The state judicial commission is investigating an ethics complaint against Justice David Prosser, stemming from a physical altercation with another justice. The supreme court will ultimately decide whether sanctions should be imposed, and Prosser is expected to ask those colleagues who witnessed the incident to recuse themselves.

The court of appeals ruled that Clear the Bench Colorado is a political committee, rather than an issue committee, and thus is subject to contribution limits of $525 per contributor per election cycle. The group formed in 2009 to challenge the retention of four supreme court justices.