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The Tennessee legislature ended its 2013 session without renewing the state’s judicial nominating commission, which screens applicants for appellate court vacancies and recommends the best qualified candidates to the governor for appointment. The commission expires on June 30, and as of July 1, there will be no...

Governor Maggie Hassan signed an executive order establishing a judicial selection commission to advise her in filling vacancies on the state’s courts. Hassan is the third New Hampshire governor to create such an entity. The first was Governor Jeanne Shaheen in 2000, a response at least in part to the impeachment of a...

If there's one thing the people in the room at the ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education can agree on today, it's that something has to give. But just what has to give? That still seems to be up for debate. In the opening session, opinions ranged nearly as wide as the topics, which included the deregulation...

The ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education is meeting today in Indianapolis at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law. The meeting is available via live webcast here. Today the group will hear three presentations: the Current Legal Education Challenge; Licensing, Finance, and Admissions; and Delivery,...

A group of Republican members of the house of representatives have proposed cutting the pay of the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices who participated in Varnum v. Brien , a unanimous 2009 ruling that struck down a state law banning same-sex marriages.

Senators Ron Johnson (R) and Tammy Baldwin (D) have agreed to a restructuring of the commission that has been used in Wisconsin since 1979 to advise senators in recommending potential candidates for federal judge and prosecutor vacancies in the state. They have agreed to share the appointment authority equally, with...

In February, the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity presented IAALS board member Walter Sutton with the 2013 Spirit of Excellence Award, which celebrates the efforts and accomplishments of lawyers who work to promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession. IAALS would...

Socially conservative legislators in Alaska have proposed a bill that would remove the judicial council’s authority to make recommendations regarding judges standing for retention. In Tennessee, legislators have proposed a bill that would allow them to reconstitute the nine-member performance evaluation commission...

Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed a bill calling for the state’s judicial nominating commissions to submit at least five names for each judicial vacancy. As IAALS Online reported last month, some question the constitutionality of the bill, since the state constitution allows commissions to send a minimum of three...

Legislatures in 17 states are considering whether to increase or eliminate their mandatory retirement age for judges. Mandatory retirement ages for state judges around the country range from 70 to 75. Pennsylvania’s supreme court recently agreed to hear a case challenging that state’s maximum age of 70 as...