Hawaii Supreme Court

Hawaii Supreme Court
Court information
Justices:	5
Founded:	1841
Judicial selection
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt.
Term:	10 years
Active justices
Simeon Acoba  •  Mark Recktenwald  •  Sabrina S. McKenna  •  Richard W. Pollack  •
Former justices

Founded in 1841, the Hawaii Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort.

Justices

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Justice Simeon Acoba	2000-2014	Ben Cayetano
Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald	2009-2020	Linda Lingle
Justice Sabrina S. McKenna	2011-2021	Neil Abercrombie
Justice Richard W. Pollack	2012 - 2020 (Mandatory Retirement)	Neil Abercrombie

Jurisdiction

The Hawaii Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over cases decided in lower courts within the state. These appeals come in the form of reserved and certified questions from lower courts or federal courts, and writs of certiorari. The court has exclusive jurisdiction over elections cases, rules governing the procedures of all state courts, and regulation and discipline of attorneys and judges.

Judicial selection

Judges are selected using the commission-selection, political appointment method of judicial selection where the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission forwards a list of candidates to the Governor. The Governor of Hawaii then appoints a candidate who must then be confirmed by the Hawaii State Senate. Justices serve renewable ten year terms which are approved or denied by the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission. There is a mandatory retirement age of 70 for the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed in the same method, but the appointment can be made from current members of the court.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications for appointment to the court are:

• Under the age of 70 at time of appointment.
• Resident of Hawaii and the United States of America.
• Licensed to practice law for no less than ten years prior to appointment.
• Not holding other political office or actively practicing law after appointment.

Removal of Justices

Judges may be removed in two ways:

• Not retained by the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission.
• The Commission on Judicial Conduct has the authority to "investigate and conduct hearings concerning allegations of judicial misconduct or disability and to recommend to the supreme court that a judge be reprimanded, disciplined, suspended, retired, or removed."

Caseloads

Fiscal Year	Primary cases filed	Supplemental proceedings filed	Primary cases terminated	Primary cases pending	Supplemental cases pending
2010	143	354	147	24	17
2009	127	301	127	28	35

Salaries

The Associate Justices of the court receive $151,118 annually, while the Chief Justice makes $156,727.

History of the court

Old Honolulu Courthouse, historic home of the Hawaii Supreme Court

See also

• Courts in Hawaii
• Judicial selection in Hawaii
• Hawaii judicial news
• Hawaii blogs
• News: HI Governor appoints Richard Pollack to the State Supreme Court, June 6, 2012

External links

• Hawaii Judiciary Official Site
• Hawaii Legal News
• Hawaii appellate court opinions and orders
• Hawaii Bar Association website

References