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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Ind. Courts - "Five state-appointed jurists face retention vote Nov. 4"
Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a story today on the state judges up for retention by the voters on Nov. 4:
Hoosier voters get their chance next month to retain or reject three justices of the Indiana Supreme Court, an Appeals Court jurist and the Tax Court judge who changed Indiana’s property tax landscape forever.Indiana uses a merit selection system in which a judicial nominating commission narrows the candidates for a judicial opening and the governor appoints the justice from a list forwarded to him by the commission.
But those judges face a retention vote by the electorate at the first statewide general election after the judge or justice has served two full years and every 10 years after that.
The Indiana Supreme Court has developed a Web site to educate voters about the judges up for retention, including links to their opinions. That link is www.in.gov/judiciary/retention.
Here is information on the five justices and judges up for retention this year:
- Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard of Evansville was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court by Gov. Robert D. Orr in 1985 at age 38. He became chief justice of Indiana in March 1987.
A seventh-generation Hoosier, Shepard graduated from Princeton University cum laude and from Yale Law School.
Shepard recently wrote the majority opinion finding that a university professor whose contract was not renewed was eligible for unemployment compensation and that police officers in Indianapolis had the authority to make arrests despite not being re-sworn when the Indianapolis Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department merged.
- Justice Brent E. Dickson was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court in January 1986 by Orr after 17 years as a general practice lawyer in Lafayette.
Born in Gary, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1964 and his law degree from Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis in 1968.
Dickson recently wrote the majority opinion clearing a former Steuben County township trustee of liability in a case where the deputy trustee – her husband – sexually assaulted a person seeking assistance.
- Justice Theodore R. Boehm was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Evan Bayh in 1996. He served as a law clerk during the 1963 term of the U.S. Supreme Court, and then joined the Indianapolis law firm of Baker & Daniels where he became a partner in 1970 and managing partner in 1980.
Boehm recently wrote the majority opinions allowing cities to transfer a tenant’s delinquent sewer fees to the owner of the property and protecting several area students from a professor’s libel lawsuit after they reported him under the university’s anti-harassment policy.
- Judge Carr L. Darden was named to the Indiana Court of Appeals by Bayh in October 1994 and was retained on the court by election in 1998. He currently serves as presiding judge of the court’s Fourth District.
Prior to his appointment, he served as a presiding judge in the Marion County Superior Court and the Marion County Municipal Court systems. He also served as the chief deputy state public defender.
- Judge Thomas G. Fisher was appointed judge of the Indiana Tax Court in 1986 by Orr. He previously served as Jasper County prosecutor and also maintained a private law practice in Remington for 21 years.
His most famous ruling came in 1996 when he declared Indiana’s system of assessing property for tax purposes unconstitutional. As a result, Indiana adopted fair-market value standards, which have increased property taxes substantially for many older homes throughout the state.
Indiana is still struggling with the new system as lawmakers passed a major property tax package earlier this year.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 14, 2008 09:56 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts | Judicial Retention