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Friday, July 02, 2010
Ind. Courts - Could Gov. Daniels Appoint a Democrat?
IU-Indy Law Prof. Joel Schumm, ILB special correspondent on the judicial nomination process, writes:
Could Gov. Daniels Appoint a Democrat?One thing you won’t see on the applications for the Indiana Supreme Court is party affiliation. But it may come through in the letters of recommendation, and this list of applicants is almost exclusively Republican.
Article 7, Section 10 of the Indiana Constitution makes clear the Governor shall fill the vacancy “without regard to political affiliation, from the list of three nominees presented to him by the judicial nomination commission.” This procedure was adopted in 1970, and every Governor to date has appointed justices from his political party. Although not quite a majority, the three gubernatorial appointees have considerable influence on the seven-member commission.
Among the 34 applicants for the Boehm vacancy are at least two Democrats. Judge Vicki Carmichael was elected to the Clark County Superior Court as a Democrat in 2006. She is the only applicant who also applied for the 1999 vacancy that was filled by Justice Rucker. At least one Republican, long-time Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner (now a Superior Court judge) applied for that position as well but is not an applicant this round.
The other applicant with strong Democratic ties is Monica Foster, a highly regarded criminal defense attorney who has represented several capitally charged defendants.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 2, 2010 08:24 AM
Posted to Vacancy on Supreme Ct