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Thursday, March 09, 2006

Ind. Courts - March Res Gestae article on the recent effort to change the judicial nominating process

Here is the submitted version of my March 2006 column in Res Gestae, the monthly journal of the Indiana State Bar Association. Titled "Analysis of another effort to alter the Indiana judicial selection and retention process," it appears on pages __-__ of the March 2006 issue.

Some quotes:

The Indiana House rules committee, in late January, voted to amend a “vehicle bill” – a bill with no content introduced as a “place saver” – by adopting a committee report inserting language changing the way Indiana appellate judges and justices are selected and retained. The changes were to take effect immediately upon passage. * * *

The discussion that follows will examine: (1) the content and impact of the proposed statutory amendment; (2) previous changes to the membership of the nominating commission; and (3) legal issues posed by the changes proposed in HB 1419. * * *

The proposal would have: (1) abruptly terminated the current terms of both the attorney and citizen members of the Judicial Nominating Commission: (2) changed the method of selection of the attorney members and provided for election of new attorney members, to take office July 1st; (3) required the Governor to fill the three now vacant citizen positions by the end of May; and (4) required that the reconstituted commission evaluate the judges and justices up for retention, beginning with the November 2006 election, and recommend on the ballot whether each appellate judge and justice up for retention should stay or go.

In researching the article, I learned that "In 1986, the General Assembly reduced the six-year terms for nonattorney commissioners to three-year terms, and reduced the six-year terms for attorney commissioners to three-year terms." I also learned that:
The citizen commissioner slot for the Third District has been vacant since March 2005 when the serving commissioner resigned. That three-year term for the Third District expired December 31, 2005. The opening is now in a new cycle that runs through December 31, 2008. Although IC 33-2.1-4-1(e) requires that “vacancies in the office of non-attorney commissioners shall be filled by the governor within sixty days after he has notice of such vacancy,” the Third District spot has been unfilled now for approximately one year.
[My monthly columns and other writings are also accessible via the link labeled "Some of my publications are available here," in the right column, beneath the search box.]

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 9, 2006 10:11 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts