Judicial selection in Arizona

Judicial selection in Arizona
Arizona Supreme Court
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt.
Term:	6 years
Arizona Court of Appeals
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt.
Term:	6 years
Arizona Superior Court
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt. or non-partisan elections
Term:	4 years
Arizona Justice Courts
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	4 years

Arizona judges are selected using a variety of different methods.

Appellate Courts

Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court and Arizona Court of Appeals are chosen via a commission selected, political appointment method. This is commonly referred to as Merit selection or the Missouri Plan.

When a vacancy on the court is announced, potential justices submit applications to the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. Once this group has chosen a slate of nominees for a vacancy that has occurred, the governor picks one from that list.

Arizona is one of twenty-one states in which the Chief Justice is elected by other justices.

State Elected by other justice Term Alaska Yes Three years Arizona Yes Five years Colorado Yes Indefinite Florida Yes Two years Georgia Yes Four years Idaho Yes Four years Illinois Yes Three years Iowa Yes Eight years Kentucky Yes Four years Michigan Yes Two years Missouri Yes Two years New Mexico Yes Two years Oklahoma Yes Two years Oregon Yes Six years South Dakota Yes Four years Tennesee Yes Two years Utah Yes Four years Virginia Yes Four years Washington Yes Four years West Virginia Yes One year Wyoming Yes Four years

The newly appointed justice initially stands for retention in the next general election more than two years after taking office. If she or he is retained by voters, the justice then serves a full six year term.

History

1910 Constitution

The high court was established in Article 6 of the Arizona Constitution. It was ratified in December 1910, 14 months before Arizona achieved statehood.

1960 Modern Courts Amendment

Alterations made to the Supreme Court in this 1960 constitutional amendment created the modern court.

It:

• Gave the Supreme Court administrative supervision over the state judiciary;
• Allowed the body to make procedural rules of court;
• Increased the number of justices from three to five;
• Allowed for creation of the Arizona Court of Appeals;
• Set the mandatory retirement age at 70; and
• Restricted judicial officers from holding other offices concurrently.

1974 Proposition 108

Almost fifteen years since it was first proposed, voters approved Proposition 108, which changed judicial selection in the state. Formerly utilizing a method of popular elections, this ballot measure established the Commission-selection, political appointment method of judicial selection still in use. This changed the way judges were selected for the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Superior Courts in counties with a population exceeding 150,000.

Superior Courts

Judges of the Arizona Superior Court are selected in one of two ways.

• In counties with a population exceeding 250,000, judges are selected through the Commission-selection, political appointment method of judicial selection. Pima and Maricopa county residents have their judges selected this way.

• In the state's other 13 counties, judges are selected in the Non-partisan election of judges.

Judges selected through either method serve a four year term.

History

The Superior Court was established by the Arizona Legislature following statehood in 1912. All the judges of this level of the courts were elected via popular election until the passage of Proposition 108 in 1974. At that time, counties with populations exceeding 150,000 would select judges through the same process as the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. In 1992, the population limit was increased to 250,000. These numbers have only ever included Pima and Maricopa counties.

Justice Courts

Justices of the Peace are elected to four year terms in partisan elections.

The Arizona Justice Courts were established by the legislature in 1912, along with the Superior Courts and Juvenile Courts.

Qualifications for judgeships

• Supreme Court:

Resident of Arizona

Licensed to practice law for 10 years

• Court of Appeals and Superior Court:

At least 30 years old

Resident of Arizona

Licensed to practice law for five years

Local resident for one year

All justices and judges have a mandatory retirement age of 70 in Arizona.

Reform efforts

2011

In the first quarter of 2011, fifteen bills having to do with judicial selection were introduced in the Arizona Legislature. All of the proposals intended to change or end merit selection in the state.

Of those House and Senate Bills, only one has emerged to make it onto the ballot in 2012: the Arizona Judicial Selection Amendment (2012). If approved by voters, this constitutional amendment will:

• increase Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Pima and Maricopa Superior Court judges' terms from six to eight years (for terms beginning after January 1, 2013).

• increase the retirement age from 70 to 75.

• alter the composition of the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. Currently the Bar Association nominates five attorneys to serve and the governor appoints them. The new method would allow the governor to appoint four members, while the Bar Association appoints one attorney.

• determine that the nominating commission submit at least eight nominees for a vacancy, unless two vacancies occur on the same court simultaneously, in which case the commission must nominate at least six nominees for each.

• eliminates the differences in term lengths and non-attorney members of the commission.

Arizona voters will decide whether to pass this constitutional amendment in the November 6, 2012 general election.

2003-2005

During period, nineteen bills were submitted to eliminate merit selection in Arizona. According to the authors of "On the Validity and Vitality of Arizona's Judicial Merit Selection System: Past, Present and Future", one impetus for these bills was the Arizona Supreme Court ruling in Bennett v. Napolitano. In this case, the high court ruled that state legislators lacked standing to challenge the governor's line item vetoes to the budget.

The authors are concluding that

See also

• Section 36 of Article 6 of the Arizona Constitution
• Section 41 of Article 6 of the Arizona Constitution
• News: Arizona voters will vote on changes to judicial selection
• Arizona judicial elections
• Courts in Arizona

External links

• Website of the Arizona Judicial Nominating Commissions

References