News & Updates

A trial court judge was removed from hearing all asbestos cases after accepting $30,000 in campaign contributions from attorneys whose firms had cases on the judge’s asbestos docket.

While campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich touted his role in helping to fund the campaign to defeat the three supreme court justices up for retention in 2010.

A campaign finance reform task force recommended public financing for judicial elections. The state first enacted limits on contributions to judicial and other candidates in 2009.

The supreme court requested that the legislature create 72 new judgeships, but budget shortfalls make such a step unlikely. The court has requested new judgeships in each of the past five budget years.

Justice Gerry Alexander is retiring after 38 years of service on the state’s courts. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2011.

Under a new code of judicial conduct that goes into effect in January, the political activities of judicial candidates are strictly curtailed. The new rules were issued at the same time that a judge is awaiting trial on bribery charges.

A newly elected judge sent letters to 700 local lawyers soliciting $100 contributions to help defray his campaign debt.

The Senate confirmed supreme court justice Morgan Christen's appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Governor Palin appointed Christen to the state high court in 2009.

Questions were raised as to whether Justice Michael Gableman violated the state ethics code and the code of judicial conduct by accepting free legal services in defending himself against a judicial ethics violation charge arising from his 2008 campaign. In two cases, Gableman voted in favor of parties represented by the firm that provided free legal services to him.

American Bar Association President Bill Robinson responds to recent scrutiny of the judiciary.

This opinion piece reviews the Citizens United v. FEC decision and predicts that it will have a detrimental effect on state judicial elections.

Senate Republicans filibustered for the second time an Obama judicial nominee. Only one Republican senator joined Senate Democrats in voting to end the confirmation debate, but they fell six votes short of the required sixty votes.

The commission on judicial conduct recommended that a New York City civil court judge be admonished for circulating misleading materials in her 2006 campaign. Admonishment is the least severe punishment for judicial misconduct.

The commission on judicial qualifications admonished a judge for an “injudicious” flyer used in her 2010 campaign. According to the commission, the flyer “likely gave the impression…that the judge’s rulings could be influenced by campaign contributions.”

Following this decision, the judicial selection commission revised its rules to allow for public disclosure of nominees. The commission recently announced the names of six nominees sent to Chief Justice Recktenwald for appointment to a district court vacancy.

The governor appointed Beth Robinson to the supreme court. She is the first openly gay justice to serve on the court.

Former chief justice Roy Moore, known to many as the “Ten Commandments judge,” announced plans to run for chief justice in 2012. Moore was removed from the court in 2003 for defying a federal judge’s order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building.

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.

Of the 100 justices who have served on the supreme court since statehood, only 36 have been elected to their seats. The rest were appointed by the governor to fill mid-term vacancies. But with two open-seat races in 2012, the court will have a majority of elected justices for the first time since 1913.

In 2012, superior court judges in Pinal County will stand for retention rather than reelection. Because the county’s population now exceeds 250,000, its judges will now be included in the state’s merit selection, retention election, and performance evaluation program. Pinal County joins Maricopa County and Pima County.