South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Commission

From Judgepedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

The South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Commission is an organization that selects Supreme Court Justices and mid-term Circuit Court Vacanies.

Overview

The judicial qualifications commission has seven members. Two circuit court judges are elected by the judicial conference; three lawyers, no more than two of whom may be members of the same political party, are appointed by the president of the State Bar of South Dakota; and two nonlawyers, not of the same political party, are appointed by the governor. Commission members serve four-year terms and may not serve more than two terms.

South Dakota Constitution

Article V, Section VII of the South Dakota Constitution under Judicial selection States:

Circuit court judges shall be elected in a nonpolitical election by the electorate of the circuit each represents for an eight-year term.

A vacancy, as defined by law, in the office of a Supreme Court justice or circuit court judge, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor from one of two or more persons nominated by the judicial qualifications commission. The appointment to fill a vacancy of a circuit court judge shall be for the balance of the unexpired term; and the appointment to fill a vacancy of a Supreme Court justice shall be subject to approval or rejection as hereinafter set forth.

Retention of each Supreme Court justice shall, in the manner provided by law, be subject to approval or rejection on a nonpolitical ballot at the first general election following the expiration of three years from the date of his appointment. Thereafter, each Supreme Court justice shall be subject to approval or rejection in like manner every eighth year. All incumbent Supreme Court justices at the time of the effective date of this amendment shall be subject to a retention election in the general election in the year in which their respective existing terms expire.

Altering Selection Methods

Selection method and term lengths for South Dakota judges are prescribed in the state's constitution. Thus, any changes must be made through constitutional amendment. Amendments may be proposed by a majority vote of the members of each house of the legislature or by initiative. Initiative petitions must be signed by qualified voters equal in number to at least 10% of the votes cast for governor in the last election. Proposed amendments must be ratified by a majority of voters.

History of Judicial selection in South Dakota

In 1889 Supreme court justices were elected by the people to six-year terms. Circuit court judges were elected by the people to four-year terms while County court judges elected to two-year terms. By 1921, the South Dakota Legislature established nonpartisan judicial elections. Fifty one years later in 1972 a Constitutional amendment created the South Dakota Unified Judicial System, which consisted of the State Supreme Court, the Circuit Courts, and Courts of Limited Jurisdiction as established by the Legislature. The amendment provided that supreme court justices would be elected from districts rather than statewide and made all judicial elections nonpartisan. Terms of both supreme court and district court judges were increased to eight years. The amendment also created the judicial qualifications commission to investigate complaints against judges and make recommendations for disciplinary action to the supreme court. The subject of Merit or Commission Based Selection came in 1979 when the South Dakota State Legislature took an constitutional amendment to require merit or comission based selection for State Supreme Court and Circuit Court Judges. In 1980, a Constitutional amendment established a merit selection process to fill all vacancies on the supreme court and to fill interim vacancies on the circuit court. Prior to the passage of the amendment, a working relationship had developed between the judicial qualifications commission and the governor's office whereby most of the governor's judicial appointees were selected from lists submitted by the commission. In 2004, South Dakota voters widely rejected an extension of commission based selection to all circuit court judges in a statewide referendum.

Members of the Commission

Supreme Court Selection in South Dakota

The commission submits at least two names to the governor for each vacancy, and the governor must appoint one of the commission's nominees. This is done for all supreme court vacancies and any circuit court vacancy in the middle of a previou's judge's term. There is no time limit stated on when a Governor must decide on selecting a new Supreme Court Justice or mid-term circuit court vacancy.

See also

References
The South Dakota Project on Judgepedia
Retrieved from "http://judgepedia.org/index.php/South_Dakota_Judicial_Qualifications_Commission"