Selection Snapshots

States across the country are wrestling with the question of whether a mandatory retirement age should be imposed upon judges, and if so, what that age should be. According to the National Center for State Courts, 32 states require at least some judges to retire at a certain age—usually between 70 and 75. A number of...

In the last few weeks, legislators in two states have passed laws aimed at influencing upcoming supreme court decisions. In Kansas, trouble has brewed between the judiciary and the other two branches throughout Governor Sam Brownback’s tenure, stemming largely from state court decisions ordering the legislature to...

With three of the seven seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court up for election in November, the stakes were high in the May 19 primaries, in which six candidates in each party vied for nominations. The twelve candidates raised more than $5 million and spent approximately half of that on TV ads. The ads tended to...

On April 7, 53 percent of Wisconsin voters approved a proposed constitutional amendment that will allow the members of the state supreme court to select its chief justice, rather than the chief justice being determined by seniority. The proposal originated with conservative legislators and was aimed at Chief Justice...

The West Virginia legislature has passed, and the governor has signed, a bill that makes elections for the state's judges nonpartisan. Despite the new legislation, it is not possible to remove all traces of partisanship from judicial races. An additional consequence of the new law is that it effectively ends straight-...

In a recent Politico piece, the former chief justice of Alabama's supreme court offered a firsthand perspective on the relationship between electing judges and maintaining impartial courts and judges, and other judges have shared similar sentiments. In 2012, Chief Justice Cobb participated in an IAALS roundtable,...

As has become standard operating procedure in the last several sessions, the Kansas legislature is once again considering proposals to alter the process for selecting the state's appellate judges. Chief Justice Lawton Nuss has spoken out against efforts to end Kansas' merit selection process for appellate judges and...

Pennsylvania is one of two states that is electing supreme court justices in 2015. To provide the public with information about judges on the ballot, the Pennsylvania Bar Association offers ratings of appellate judicial candidates provided by the Bar's Judicial Evaluation Commission (JEC). But, a sitting commonwealth...

In the upcoming legislative session in a handful of states, lawmakers are expected to propose legislation aimed at courts and judges. Some Washington legislators have filed a bill that would make the state's judicial elections partisan. Two bills that Wisconsin lawmakers plan to file in 2015 would impact the Chief...

Delaware Law Weekly recently published an article discussing how judicial vacancies are filled in Delaware. Specifically, the article focused on the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and whether it is appropriate for members of the JNC to resign and then apply for judicial positions. IAALS's own Malia...