Last week James Bopp, an opponent of both merit =
selection
and restrictions on candidate speech in judicial elections, sued the =
Alaska
Judicial Council, which serves as the state’s judicial nominating
commission. Mr. Bopp’s press release is copied =
below.
Have any listserv members worked with commissions =
that have
faced similar legal challenges, and if so, do you have any wisdom to =
share with
our
Malia Reddick, Ph.D.
Director of Research & =
Programs
(515) 271-2287
PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Contact: James Bopp, Jr.
Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685; jboppjr@aol.com
Two
In
The case arises out of the upcoming retirement of Justice Robert =
L.
Eastaugh from the Alaska Supreme Court. His retirement will create a =
vacancy on
November 2, 2009. The plaintiffs want the court to stop the three lawyer
Council members from selecting the nominees for that vacancy. If =
successful,
when Governor Palin has to make her choice to fill the spot, the names =
in front
of her will be picked by a Council that represents equally all the =
people of
Alaska.
Incidentally, the Alaska Bar =
Rag,
published by the Alaska Bar Association, has recently featured =
editorials
expressing concern over the flaws in the judicial selection process.
According to attorney James Bopp, Jr., lead counsel for the =
plaintiffs,
the
The case is Hinger v. =
Carpeneti,
et al., No. (D.
James Bopp, Jr. has a national
federal and state election law practice. He is General Counsel for the =
The Florida Supreme Court ruled last week that Gov. =
Crist
must appoint an appellate judge from the list of six names submitted by =
the
nominating commission.
Fla. =
Justices:
Crist Must Choose Jurist From List
Comments? Concerns?
Malia Reddick, Ph.D.
Director of Research & =
Programs
(515) 271-2287
Attached, fyi, please find a recent
decision of the Florida Supreme Court which held that the Governor does =
not
have the power to reject the slate of nominees tendered by a JNC in =
favor of a
additional nominees.
Bob =
Shillinger
Chief Assistant County =
Attorney
(305) 292-3470
(305) 292-3516 =
(facsimile)
Please note that
Thanks for sharing this, Bob. What =
have
the reactions to the decision been from the Florida folks, especially =
the
governor?
Malia
From:
jnc_network-admin@lists.ajs.org [mailto:jnc_network-admin@lists.ajs.org] =
On Behalf Of Shillinger-Bob
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, =
2009 10:54
AM
To: =
jnc_network@lists.ajs.org
Subject: =
[jnc_network]Florida
Supreme Court Opinion on JNCs
Attached, fyi, please find a recent
decision of the Florida Supreme Court which held that the Governor does =
not
have the power to reject the slate of nominees tendered by a JNC in =
favor of a
additional nominees.
Bob =
Shillinger
Chief Assistant County =
Attorney
(305) 292-3470
(305) 292-3516 =
(facsimile)
Please note that
JNC Network members,
Last month, I traveled to
1) =
Are there
interview questions that your commission has found particularly helpful, =
beyond
those that are provided in Chapter
7 of AJS’s Handbook for Judicial Nominating =
Commissioners?
2) =
For those
commissions that have restrictions on political activity by commission =
members,
how is “political activity” =
defined?
I’m sure our friends in
Malia
Malia Reddick, Ph.D.
Director of Research & =
Programs
(515) 271-2287
A few months ago we shared a story about =
controversy in New
York over the lack of diversity in the Commission on Judicial =
Nomination’s
list of seven candidates to fill the chief judgeship vacancy on the =
state’s
highest court. As described in the article linked below, Governor =
Paterson
criticized the commission for failing to recommend any women for the =
position.
h=
ttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/nyregion/04judge.html?_r=3D3
In the wake of this controversy, the commission =
reconsidered
its rules of procedure and last week proposed several revisions aimed at
generating a larger, more diverse pool of applicants for the commission =
to
consider. This article provides links to the current and proposed =
commission
rules:
The proposed revisions include the =
following:
·
An explicit statement barring =
discrimination and
a commitment to considering diverse nominees
·
A provision allowing the commission to =
appoint a
search committee of commission members to solicit =
recommendations
·
A provision calling for notifications of
vacancies to be disseminated to the media, bar groups, and law schools, =
and
posted on the internet
·
A provision calling for the convening of =
public informational
meetings to discuss screening procedures and solicit public comment =
about the process
·
A provision implementing a two-step =
application
process, where candidates would initially submit a resume and short-form
questionnaire and candidates selected for interviews would submit a full
questionnaire
Our friends in New York and we at AJS are =
interested in
hearing whether your commission has adopted any of these measures and, =
if so,
what the impact has been.
Malia Reddick, Ph.D.
Director of Research & Programs
2700 University Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50311
(515) 271-2287
HI Malia,
The Alaska Judicial Council by-laws and Council
procedures for nominating judicial candidates are posted on the =
Council’s
website at www.ajc.state.ak.us.
Please see below for more specific references.
Larry Cohn
Executive Director
Alaska Judicial Council
phone: 907-279-2526 ext. 1
From: jnc_network-admin@lists.ajs.org
[mailto:jnc_network-admin@lists.ajs.org] On Behalf Of Malia =
Reddick
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 8:42 AM
To: jnc_network@lists.ajs.org
Subject: [jnc_network]Proposed changes to NY's JNC
A few months ago we shared a story about =
controversy in New
York over the lack of diversity in the Commission on Judicial
Nomination’s list of seven candidates to fill the chief judgeship =
vacancy
on the state’s highest court. As described in the article linked =
below,
Governor Paterson criticized the commission for failing to recommend any =
women
for the position.
h=
ttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/nyregion/04judge.html?_r=3D3
In the wake of this controversy, the commission =
reconsidered
its rules of procedure and last week proposed several revisions aimed at
generating a larger, more diverse pool of applicants for the commission =
to
consider. This article provides links to the current and proposed =
commission
rules:
The proposed revisions include the =
following:
·
An explicit statement barring =
discrimination and
a commitment to considering diverse nominees
Council by-laws and Council selection procedures preclude
discrimination prohibited under state and federal law. The Council may =
not
consider an applicant’s political or religious beliefs unless they
indicate a substantial bias or conflict of interest that would affect an
applicant’s ability to apply the law impartially. See =
By-laws,
Article I, Sec. 1; Selection Procedures, Section VI =
(E).
·
A provision allowing the commission to =
appoint a
search committee of commission members to solicit =
recommendations
Council selection procedures and Council by-laws =
authorize
members and staff to actively encourage qualified applicants to =
apply.
Members and staff may cooperate with selection committees of the state =
or local
bar or appropriate organizations to identify and recruit potential =
applicants.
See Bylaws, Article VII, Sec. 1; Selection Procedures, Section I (A). =
Council
by-laws authorize the formation of committees but do not refer to a =
search
committee in particular. See Article VI of =
by-laws.
·
A provision calling for notifications of
vacancies to be disseminated to the media, bar groups, and law schools, =
and
posted on the internet
To solicit applicants for each vacancy, the Council =
issues a
press release, posts a notice on its website, and sends notice of a =
vacancy to
all active members of the Alaska Bar. See By-laws, Article VII, Sec. 1; =
Selection
Procedures, Section I (A).
·
A provision calling for the convening of =
public
informational meetings to discuss screening procedures and solicit =
public
comment about the process
The Council solicits public comments about applicants on =
its
website and in a press release. The Council also advertises a =
public
hearing for each vacancy to solicit comments about applicants. See =
Selection
Procedures, Section III (B).
·
A provision implementing a two-step =
application
process, where candidates would initially submit a resume and short-form
questionnaire and candidates selected for interviews would submit a full
questionnaire
The Council typically interviews all applicants. =
See Selection
Procedures, Section V (A).
Our friends in New York and we at AJS are =
interested in
hearing whether your commission has adopted any of these measures and, =
if so,
what the impact has been.
In 2008, we analyzed our process from
1984-2007 using data we collected on judicial applicants, nominees, and
appointees and members of the Bar at large. We analyzed =
characteristics associated
with application, nomination, and appointment. The relatively short =
report is
on our website at http://www=
.ajc.state.ak.us/reports/JudgeProfile08.pdf.
The report shows that the Council’s process has been remarkably
consistent over the years. In particular, gender was shown not to =
have
affected the likelihood of nomination. There is a section on =
ethnicity,
but Alaska has too few minority attorneys and too few minority attorney
applicants for meaningful statistical analysis…13 minority =
attorneys have
applied for 27 judicial positions, 8 were nominated, and 4 were =
appointed.
Hope this helps.
Malia Reddick, Ph.D.
Director of Research & Programs
2700 University Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50311
(515) 271-2287