Nevada Supreme Court

• Nevada Supreme Court
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Nevada Supreme Court
Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1864
Location:	Carson City, Nevada
Judicial selection
Method:	Non-partisan election of judges
Term:	6 years
Active justices
Kris Pickering  •  Mark Gibbons  •  Ron Parraguirre  •  James Hardesty  •  Michael Cherry  •  Michael Douglas  •  Nancy Saitta  •
Former justices

The Supreme Court of Nevada is the highest judicial body in the state.

Justices

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Chief justice Kris Pickering	2008-2014		Republican
Justice Mark Gibbons	2002-2014
Justice Ron Parraguirre	2004-2016		Republican
Justice James Hardesty	2004-2016		Democratic
Justice Michael Cherry	2006-2019		Democratic
Justice Michael Douglas	2004-2019	Gov. Kenny Guinn
Justice Nancy Saitta	2006-2019		Democratic

Chief justice

The Chief Justice is chosen according to seniority, and terms are two years. In the case of two eligible justices, the Chief Justices is determined by lot.

Past Chief Justices

• 2013-2014: Kris Pickering
• 2011-2012: Michael Douglas
• 2010-2011: Ron Parraguirre
• 2009-2010: James Hardesty
• 2008-2009: Bill Maupin and Mark Gibbons split the two year term as both were eligible. Justice Maupin retired in 2008.

Jurisdiction

Because Nevada does not have an intermediate appellate court, it is the court of last resort. The Nevada Supreme Court determines all appeals from the district courts.

Judicial selection

Each justice of the seven justices are elected to six-year terms. In the case of a vacancy, the responsibility goes to the Governor to fill by appointment.

Qualifications

To be a qualified candidate, the person must be a resident of the state for at least two years, must be at least 25 years old at the time of the election, and licensed and admitted to practice law in either Nevada or any other state in the United States for at least 15 years. Two of these years must have been spent practicing in Nevada. To file with the Secretary of State to become an official candidate to the Supreme Court of Nevada, the fee is $300.

Caseloads

Fiscal year	Total cases filed	Cases disposed by opinion	Cases disposed by order	Total cases disposed	Written opinions
2011	2,395	71	2,149	2,220	71
2010	2,266	63	2,356	2,419	81
2009	2,152	98	2,069	2,167	73
2008	2,238	90	1,869	1,959	79
2007	2,132	98	2,095	2,193	90

Salaries

The Associate Justices and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court earn $170,000 annually.

Notable decisions

History of the court

Nevada Supreme Courthouse

Upon statehood, the constitution of Nevada provided three justices to the Supreme Court. This was increased twice, once in 1967 from three to five justices, and again in 1997 to seven.

Notable firsts

See also

• News: Incumbent Nevada Supreme Court judges face no opposition in coming election, January 31, 2012
• News: Nevada Supreme Court closing in on its 60,000th case, December 15, 2011
• News: Are Nevada's judges paid more?, July 18, 2011

External links

• Nevada Supreme Court Official Site
• Las Vegas Review Journal: Supreme Court Judicial Performance Evaluation, 2008
• Constitution of Nevada

References

2010

See also: 2010 State Supreme Court elections

James Hardesty was uncontested in his bid to retain his seat.

Nevada Supreme Court 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
James Hardesty		n/a	n/a

Ron Parraguirre was uncontested in his bid to retain his seat.

Nevada Supreme Court 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Ron Parraguirre		n/a	n/a

2008

See also: State Supreme Court elections, 2008

Incumbent Mark Gibbons defeated challenger Thomas Christensen.

Nevada Supreme Court 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Mark Gibbons		n/a	55%
Thomas Christensen		n/a	25%

Deborah Schumacher and Mary Pickering competed to fill the vacancy left by retiring judge A. William Maupin. Pickering succeeded with 42% of the vote.

Nevada Supreme Court 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Mary Pickering		n/a	42%
Deborah Schumacher		n/a	39%