News & Updates

Governor Christie criticized the Democratic-led senate for not yet having scheduled confirmation hearings for the supreme court nominees he named in late January. According to a judiciary committee member, they are looking into financial issues involving one of the nominees.

Of the four candidates vying for a supreme court seat in the March Democratic primary, the incumbent and her appellate court challenger received the highest marks from Chicago-area bar associations that rate judges. The other two candidates were found “not qualified” and “not recommended” in various polls.

Though they have been proponents of electing judges in the past, two justices are calling for moving to some form of merit selection for the state's supreme court. Justices Crooks and Bradley cited concerns about the surge in spending on supreme court races, as well as the lack of meaningful disclosure and recusal rules.

Governor Gregoire encouraged trial court applicants and candidates for reelection to submit themselves to being rated by minority bar associations. In making judicial appointments, the governor consults minority bar ratings as well as traditional bar ratings.

Though he believes he has enough votes to move the proposal out of committee, a Republican legislator agreed to postpone until the end of the session consideration of his bill calling for popular election of all judges. In January, the Republican governor, senate speaker, and house speaker jointly proposed a constitutional amendment establishing merit selection for appellate judges.

U.S. Senator and possible 2015 gubernatorial candidate David Vitter urged the state legislature to examine the current process for choosing judges—i.e., partisan elections—and consider moving to merit selection.

After a standoff over judicial appointments brought senate business to a halt, lieutenant governor and 2013 gubernatorial candidate Bill Bolling called for the creation of a bipartisan judicial selection commission. (Virginia is one of two states where the legislature appoints judges.) As a result of the November 2011 elections, the senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

A proposal to amend the constitution to establish merit selection and retention for appellate judges and justices met with support and opposition from both Republicans and Democrats in the legislature. The proposal would make constitutional a selection system that is currently statutory.

The three candidates competing to be the Republican candidate for chief justice of the supreme court raised nearly $150,000 in January for the March primary campaign.

The governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house jointly proposed a constitutional amendment that would establish a merit selection and retention system for the state’s appellate judges. If approved by the legislature, the measure would go on the ballot in 2014. (A merit selection and retention system is currently in place, but it is statutorily based.)

The District of Columbia Judicial Nominating Commission recommended three public sector attorneys to fill a vacancy on the D.C. superior court. The White House has 60 days to select a nominee, who then appears before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for confirmation proceedings.

Three supreme court justices are up for reelection in 2012, but all three are running unopposed and will retain their seats.

A house subcommittee approved a bill that would allow the governor to replace the five members of the judicial nominating commission who are appointed by the governor without bar association input. (Currently, commission members serve four-year terms and may only be removed for cause.)

The Las Vegas Review-Journal released its annual report on attorney ratings of supreme court justices and trial judges in Clark County. Reelection support for individual supreme court justices ranged from 56% to 83%.

Only one Democrat is vying for a seat on the state’s appellate courts in 2012. The state’s Democratic Party chairman attributed this to the high cost and contentiousness of judicial elections in Alabama. Three Republican incumbents on the supreme court will be reelected without opposition.

Two Democratic legislators sponsored a bill to establish public financing for supreme court elections.

The March 2012 Republican primary could determine who the next chief justice will be. Three Republicans are vying for the seat, but no Democratic challengers have emerged.

A Republican candidate for governor voiced his support for commission-based appointment of the state’s judges. According to Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, there is too much “horse-trading” in the current system, in which the legislature chooses judges.

Seven candidates for six seats on Luzerne County’s court of common pleas spent $1.1 million on their campaigns. The losing candidate spent the least of the seven candidates.

The supreme court announced that it will not revisit its decision in Avery v. State Farm. The petition to vacate the decision was based on recent allegations that State Farm had contributed more than $3 million to the election campaign of one of the justices.