Selection Snapshots

Governor Christie criticized the Democratic-led senate for not yet having scheduled confirmation hearings for the supreme court nominees he named in late January. According to a judiciary committee member, they are looking into financial issues involving one of the nominees.

Of the four candidates vying for a supreme court seat in the March Democratic primary, the incumbent and her appellate court challenger received the highest marks from Chicago-area bar associations that rate judges. The other two candidates were found “not qualified” and “not recommended” in various polls.

A Democratic legislator's resolution to remove Justice Michael Gableman from the court for alleged violation of state law and the code of judicial conduct has received little support, attracting only four co-sponsors.

Though they have been proponents of electing judges in the past, two justices are calling for moving to some form of merit selection for the state's supreme court. Justices Crooks and Bradley cited concerns about the surge in spending on supreme court races, as well as the lack of meaningful disclosure and recusal rules.

A divided supreme court altered its rules to allow chief justices to serve successive two-year terms, and up to eight years, and to be selected on criteria in addition to seniority. The revisions are based on the recommendations of a judicial branch study group.

Governor Gregoire encouraged trial court applicants and candidates for reelection to submit themselves to being rated by minority bar associations. In making judicial appointments, the governor consults minority bar ratings as well as traditional bar ratings.

A judge under indictment for soliciting a bribe from a judicial applicant (among other charges) resigned from the bench to avoid disciplinary proceedings regarding offensive comments he made about gay people.

The February 2012 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available.

Though he believes he has enough votes to move the proposal out of committee, a Republican legislator agreed to postpone until the end of the session consideration of his bill calling for popular election of all judges. In January, the Republican governor, senate speaker, and house speaker jointly proposed a constitutional amendment establishing merit selection for appellate judges.

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.