Joel Horton

From Judgepedia

Idaho Supreme Court
Sitting Justices
Daniel Eismann Roger Burdick Jim Jones Warren E. Jones Joel Horton
Former justices
Idaho on Judgepedia

Joel Horton is one of five justices on the Idaho Supreme Court. He has served on the state's highest court since the fall of 2007, when he was appointed by Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter, a Republican, to succeed Justice Linda Copple Trout. Horton was chosen from a list of judges put forward by the Idaho Judicial Council. The other names on the list were Judge Darla Williamson, 3rd District Judge Juneal Kerrick and Coeur d'Alene attorney Kenneth Howard.^[1]

On May 27, 2008, Horton was re-elected to the court for a six year term. His competitor was John Bradbury. The election was extraordinarily close, with Horton winning 74,849 votes to 74,573 for Bradbury, a margin of difference of 276 votes.^[2]

See also: Idaho Supreme Court elections.

Legal education and experience

Justice Horton attended the University of Washington where he received a B.A. in Political Science in 1982 and his J.D. from the University of Idaho College of Law in 1985.

Horton practiced law in Lewiston for one year before marrying future Ada County Magistrate Carolyn Minder and moving to Twin Falls. He was a deputy prosecuting attorney in Twin Falls from 1986 - 1988. He worked as a criminal deputy with the Ada County Prosecutor for three years before becoming a Deputy Attorney General in 1991. He returned to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office in 1992, serving as a deputy criminal prosecutor until 1994.

In 1994, Horton was appointed Ada County magistrate, serving as a family law judge until his appointment to the district court in 1996 by Governor Phil Batt. He served as a district judge until his appointment to the Idaho Supreme Court. ^[3]

References