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Cindy Pham Former IAALS Intern This year, Albany Law Review's annual  State Constitutional Commentary   Symposium features articles from IAALS Advisory Committee Members. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Chief Justice Ruth McGregor  contributed a short …

Cindy Pham Former IAALS Intern A third of the Middle District of Pennsylvania's active court lies vacant due to the slow-moving process of judicial nominations. The Atlantic reports these vacancies significantly overburden the Middle District, …

Cindy Pham Former IAALS Intern The Diane Rehm Show discusses how judicial elections and appointment processes impact fairness in state courts.   Some critics argue elections create political biases which weaken judicial impartiality. These critics contend …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative At its fall convention, the state Democratic Party  nominated three women to run for supreme court seats  in November. Two of the three candidates are challenging incumbent justices, while the third …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative The Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona has prepared a short video that describes its process for selecting, evaluating, and retaining judges. Appellate courts and trial courts in the three …

Cindy Pham Former IAALS Intern On August 30th, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania  introduced a new Pilot Program designed  to expedite civil cases filed in that district. Modeled loosely on the Northern District of …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative Thirty-three percent of supreme, appellate, and superior court judges are women—an  increase of eight percent since 2002 . This figure comes close to matching the percentage of Connecticut Bar …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative A group of retired supreme court judges took the lead in the  campaign opposing Amendment 3 , a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the governor to name an additional member of the …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative The state Republican Party chair  called for voters to remove one of four supreme court justices  standing for retention in November. Justice David Wiggins participated in the 2009 unanimous ruling …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative With Justice Patricio Serna’s retirement at the end of August, the state political parties are  meeting to nominate candidates  to run for the seat in November. Ordinarily, nominees would be chosen …

Natalie Anne Knowlton Advisor on Regulatory Innovation The Missouri Bar’s judicial-review committee has released evaluations of the 51 judges standing for retention in November,  recommending against  the retention of Judge Dale W. Hood. Judge Hood also …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative Some senators are  pushing to abolish the governor’s council , one of the chief responsibilities of which is to confirm judicial appointments. The council has come under fire recently for “unorthodox …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative With two vacancies on the supreme court, Chief Justice Rabner is  assigning two intermediate appellate court judges to the supreme court  as of October 1. The court has been operating with six …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative Twenty-three past presidents of the Florida Bar signed a  resolution denouncing the effort by Restore Justice 2012  to oust three supreme court justices standing for retention in November. The bar …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative In a unanimous ruling, the supreme court of appeals declared unconstitutional the matching or “rescue” funds provision of the state’s pilot public financing program. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative Three former judges  recused themselves from hearing a challenge  to the state’s appellate judge selection process, citing the need to preserve the integrity of the special five-member panel …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative In the dispute over  who should replace Kitty Kimball as chief justice  when she steps down in early 2013, a federal district court judge ruled that Justice Bernice Johnson’s service from 1994 to …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative The legislature’s creation of two additional judgeships and several retirements are creating a  record number of superior court vacancies  to be filled. If Governor Markell is reelected in November, …

Alli Gerkman Former Senior Director According to financial disclosure forms, five of the seven justices serving on the supreme court in 2011 accepted travel or hospitality that was often provided by attorney associations whose members might appear before …

Alli Gerkman Former Senior Director The Akron Bar Association formed a judicial campaign conduct committee as part of an effort to improve the tone and conduct of local judicial campaigns. The committee will ask candidates to sign a clean-campaign pledge …