Arizona Supreme Court

• Arizona Supreme Court
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Arizona Supreme Court
Court information
Justices:	5
Founded:	1912
Judicial selection
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt.
Term:	6 years
Active justices
Scott Bales  •  Rebecca White Berch  •  Ann Timmer  •  John Pelander  •  Robert Brutinel  •
Former justices

Founded in February 1912, the Arizona Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort.

Justices

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Justice Scott Bales	2005-2014	Janet Napolitano
Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch	2002-2016	Jane Dee Hull
Justice Ann Timmer	2012-Present	Gov. Jan Brewer
Justice John Pelander	2009-2018	Jan Brewer
Justice Robert Brutinel	2010-2014	Jan Brewer

Jurisdiction

Under Article 6, Sections 5 of the Arizona constitution the Supreme Court has discretionary jurisdiction to review the decisions reached by lower courts within the state. Discretionary jurisdiction allows the court to refuse to review a lower court case, unless the defendant in the case is sentenced to death, in which case the supreme court must hear the case. The court has a supervisory role over the Arizona Bar Association, other courts in the state, and the Commission on Judicial Conduct and is responsible making rules governing administration, practice and procedure in all courts. Under Article 8, Part 2, Section 1 of the constitution the Chief Justice of the court also has a role in the impeachment process of public officials who are accused of crimes. The Chief presides over Senate impeachment trials but does not offer a decision on guilt or innocence of the official.

Judicial Selection

See also: Judicial selection in Arizona

All justices on the Arizona Supreme Court are chosen using the Commission-selection, political appointment method of judicial selection to six-year renewable terms. Following the initial appointment judges are subject to a retention election in the next general election which occurs more than two years after the appointment. Vacancies, which can occur when a judge dies, resigns, retires, or is removed from office, are filled by appointments by the Governor of Arizona. The court consists of a Chief Justice, Vice Chief Justice and three Associate Justices. The Chief and Vice Chief are elected by their peers to five year renewable terms.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications for appointment to the court are:

• A nominee to the court must have been a state resident for at least ten years.
• The nominee must have been licensed to practice law in Arizona for at least ten years.
• The candidate must be less than 70 years old, since there is a mandatory retirement age of 70.
• May not hold any other political office, public office, political party office, or practice law while on the bench.
• May not campaign except for their own campaign.

Removal of justices

Justices can be removed in multiple ways:

• They may be impeached by a majority vote of the Arizona House of Representatives and summarily convicted by a two thirds vote of the Arizona Senate.
• May be censured, suspended, removed, or retired based upon recommendation of the commission on judicial conduct by the Supreme Court.
• Lose a recall election after having lost a retention election.

Caseloads

Fiscal Year	Filings	Terminations	Case Load percent increase over previous year	Case filings percent increase over previous year
2012	1,109	1,080	7.9%	8.9%
2011	1,018	960	-1.3%	-6.3%
2010	1,086	960	46.8%	6.2%
2009	1,023	1,082	-18.2%	-12.1%
2008	1,164	1,150	3.1%	0.3%
2007	1,256	1,250	2%	-2.7%

Salaries

The Associate Justices of the court earn $155,000 annually, while the Chief Justice earns $160,000.

Notable decisions

• Death sentence thrown out by the Arizona Supreme Court because of jury's misunderstanding
• Arizona high court affirms water rights settlement
• Arizona Supreme Court overturns Court of Appeals invloving man's conviction
• Arizona Supreme Court strikes down tax deals

History of the court

The court was first assembled in February of 1912. Since then, 39 justices have sat on the bench. Article 6, Sections 1 through 8 of the Arizona Constitution concern the supreme court specifically, while the rest of the article discusses the Arizona judiciary as a whole. From 1912 to 1974, justices of all levels were elected to their respective courts (except in the case of unscheduled vacancies); in 1974, however, the passage of Proposition 108 ushered in the current era of merit-based judicial appointments. Proposition 108 additionally provided for "retention elections of merit-selected justices or judges after their appointments." Section 2 of Article 6 requires that there always be at least five justices on the supreme court bench, regardless of legislation that may increase or decrease the amount of justices at any given time. Article 33 protects justices and judges from salary deductions during their term in office.

Notable Firsts

• Former Chief Justice Lorna Lockwood was the first woman to serve as on the Supreme Court, first as an associate justice, then as Vice Chief Justice and finally as Chief. She was the first woman in any state to hold that position.

See also

• Arizona
• Judicial selection in Arizona
• Arizona judicial news

External links

• Arizona Supreme Court Homepage
• The Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review
• American Judicature Society: Methods of Judicial selection
• Arizona State Constitution: Article 6

References

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2012

John Pelander, Arizona Supreme Court, Justice Retention 2012 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
For retention		'	'
Against retention

2010 election

Rebecca White Berch, Arizona Supreme Court, Justice Retention 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
For retention		901,333	75.2%
Against retention		297,288	24.8%

• Click here (scroll to page 13) for 2010 General Election Results from the Arizona Secretary of State.

Main article: Arizona judicial elections, 2010

2008 Election

Scott Bales, Arizona Supreme Court, Justice Retention 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
For retention		1,174,085	77.1%
Against retention		349,698	22.9%

• Click here (scroll to page 13) for 2008 General Election Results from the Arizona Secretary of State.

2006 election

Andrew Hurwitz, Arizona Supreme Court, Justice Retention 2006 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
For retention		793,556	77.1%
Against retention		235,396	22.9%

• Click here (scroll to page 13) for 2006 General Election Results from the Arizona Secretary of State.

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