Selection Snapshots

The October 2011 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available. Sign up for Selection Snapshots and other IAALS newsletters here .

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 December 2011 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available. Sign up for Selection Snapshots and other IAALS newsletters here.

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.

President Obama’s efforts to fill judicial vacancies have been complicated by the American Bar Association’s ratings of potential nominees. The ABA’s judicial vetting committee has rated 14 of 185 potential nominees as “not qualified,” and the administration has a policy of not nominating such candidates.

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. Two other candidates have declared their...

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. Click here to read the article.