Oregon Supreme Court

From Judgepedia

Oregon Supreme Court
Sitting justices
Thomas Balmer Paul De Muniz Robert Durham Michael Gillette Rives Kistler Virginia Linder Martha Walters
Former justices
Oregon on Judgepedia

The Oregon Supreme Court is the highest court in Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the United States Supreme Court.^[1]

Jurisdiction

"The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the following matters:

• Direct review of circuit court decisions in death penalty cases certain labor law injunctions
• Direct review from decisions of the Oregon Tax Court
• Discretionary review of Court of Appeals decisions and certified questions from the Court of Appeals
• Direct review of certain agency proceedings, including prison siting decisions, energy Facility Siting Council decisions, and certain solid waste disposal site selection decisions
• Direct but discretionary review of certified questions of law from a federal court or court of another state
• Original proceedings (court has discretion whether to hear a particular case), including mandamus; habeas corpus; quo warranto; challenges to ballot titles, explanatory statements, and statements of fiscal impact; and, reapportionment review (every ten years)
• Practice of law proceedings—admissions to the practice of law, and disciplinary proceedings to reprimand, suspend, or disbar attorneys after trial by the Disciplinary Board
• Judicial fitness and disability—disciplinary proceedings to censure, suspend, or remove of a judge after investigation and recommendation of the Commission on Judicial Fitness and disability"^[2]

Case load

The court's justices

Selection of justices

State court judges serve six-year terms and run for nonpartisan election. In the case of a vacancy, the Governor may fill the seat with an appointment. To keep that position, the appointed person must run for election for a full six-year term at the next general election. A judge may be removed if he is convicted of a felony or a "crime involving moral turpitude," misconduct in office, a failure to perform the duties of the bench, is incompetent to perform those duties, has violated a rule of judicial conduct, or is consistently drunk or uses drugs.

Qualifications

Justices on the Oregon Supreme Court serve in terms of six years.^[3] The mandatory retirement age in Oregon is 75. To be a qualified candidate to the court, he must be a United States citizen, a resident of Oregon at least three years before the election or appointment, and must be admitted to practice law in the Oregon Supreme Court.^[4]

Current justices

Standing (l-r): Justice Rives Kistler, Justice Martha Lee Walters, Justice Virginia L. Linder. Seated (l-r): Justice W. Michael Gillette, Chief Justice Paul J. De Muniz, Justice Robert D. Durham, and Justice Thomas A. Balmer

The court has seven elected justices. They choose one of their own to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice. The current Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court are:

Chief justice

Paul J. De Muniz (born c. 1948) is the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. He is the first Hispanic Chief Justice in the history of the Oregon Supreme Court. He was elected to the court in 2000, and elected as Chief Justice in 2006. He won re-election in May 2006. De Muniz previously served on the Oregon Court of Appeals for ten years, to which he had been appointed by Democratic Governor Barbara Roberts. The Supreme Court is responsible for choosing the Chief Justice, who serves six year terms. The responsibilities of the position include taking care of administrative responsibilities as well as the financial responsibilities of the state Judicial Department.^[5]

History of the court

Oregon has four types of courts, which include the trial and appellate courts, the municipal courts, federal courts, and the tribal courts.^[6] In addition to the different types of courts, the state is divided into 36 counties and 27 judicial districts.^[7]

Judicial selection measures fail

In November 2002, voters in Oregon were presented with two measures on the selection of judges to increase accountability. The first measure "would have given voters a "none of the above" option when voting for judges and would have required mid-term judicial appointees to run for election at the next available election, rather than at the next general election." The second measure would have had appellate judges elected from geographic districts.^[8]

See also

• Oregon
• Oregon Court of Appeals
• Oregon in the News
• Oregon circuit courts
• Oregon judicial news
• Oregon blogs

External links

• Oregon Judicial Department Official Site

References