News & Updates

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.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for judicial nominees to get an up-or-down vote after 90 days, regardless of whether they could overcome a filibuster.

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.

Justice Michael Gableman rejected requests that he recuse himself from three cases involving a law firm that defended him for free against an ethics violation charge. Gableman noted that justices should recuse  themselves only when they believe they cannot act impartially or when it might appear that they cannot do so.

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.

According to campaign finance records, two trial court judges made $100 contributions to an anti-abortion PAC after hearing cases involving abortion-related issues. The two judges serve in Sedgwick County, where judges are chosen in partisan elections, and are up for reelection this fall.

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.)

On February 6 at Noon PST, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Rick Hasen (University of California at Irvine School of Law) and Professor James Sample (Hofstra Law) will discuss the impact of Citizens United on judicial elections.

Two Republican legislators proposed a bill that would require attorneys to disclose to the judge and all parties to a lawsuit any campaign contributions of more than $500 made to that judge by the attorney or the attorney’s firm within the past five years. The bill would also require the judge’s recusal upon a motion filed by a non-contributing party.

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.

Christie nominated two men who would bring greater diversity to the state’s highest court—the first openly gay justice and the first Asian-American justice. The nominees must be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled senate.

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

Republicans legislators have introduced several bills this session aimed at the courts, including changing the way judges are disciplined and amending the constitution to address how judges are selected. A proposal that would have stripped the courts of judicial review over state laws was withdrawn by its sponsor after it met with heavy criticism from both parties.

After ten years of leading the court, Chief Justice Christine Durham is stepping down from that position but remaining on the court. Members of the court unanimously selected Justice Matthew B. Durant to serve as chief justice as of April 1.

Governor Malloy promised to look for diversity of thought, experience, and gender in making judicial appointments in 2012, a year in which he is expected to fill more than two dozen judgeships. Three of Malloy’s four judicial appointees during 2011 were racial minorities.

Calls mounted for supreme court justice Joan Orie Melvin to step down from the court or take a temporary leave of absence as a grand jury investigates charges that she violated state election laws in her past judicial campaigns.

Dissatisfaction with the redistricting maps drawn by a panel of appellate judges has led to renewed calls by some legislators for changes in how appellate judges are selected. Proposals include adding more citizen members to the judicial nominating commission, which is said to be dominated by trial attorneys, and prohibiting judges from serving on the commission.

Two candidates have filed to run for the supreme court seat being vacated by Justice Tom Chambers, who announced his intention to retire at the end of the year. Former justice Richard Sanders, who lost a bid for reelection in 2010, is considering running as well.

A Democratic legislator circulated a resolution calling for the removal of supreme court justice Michael Gableman, for presiding over cases involving a law firm that provided him with free legal services. The constitution allows the legislature to remove judges by a two-thirds vote—a process known as a bill of address.