Brennan Center for Justice

1.         Judges, journalists, and scholars from across the country countinue to weigh on the discussion of federal judicial nominations and confirmations. The Los Angeles Times published an editorial calling for the Senate to get rid of the so-called “Thurmond Rule,” which bars the Senate from voting on high level judicial nominees in the few months before a presidential election. The editorial says “the Thurmond Rule violates the spirit of the Constitution” and “such delays are a disservice to the nominees and to an overburdened federal judiciary.” John M. Walker Jr., a senior judge for the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote a piece in The Atlantic on the “unfortunate politicization of judicial confirmation hearings” and the “broken” process for nomination and confirmation. In a sign of at least halting progress, last week the Senate Judiciary Committee approved three federal district court nominees, Terrence Berg, Jesus Bernal and Lorna Schofield, to the Eastern District of Michigan, the Central District of California, and the Southern District of New York, respectively. As the Blog of Legal Times notes, however, “the nominees might not get a final confirmation vote from the full Senate until late in the year.”

Reject the ‘Thurmond Rule’, Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2012; Carl Tobias, Another View: President, Senators Need to Fill Judicial Vacancies More Quickly, Des Moines Register, July 12, 2012; Andreas Rivera, Filling Utah Judgeship Now Deemed an ‘Emergency’, Salt Lake Tribune, July 10, 2012; John M. Walker Jr., The Unfortunate Politicization of Judicial Confirmation Hearings, The Atlantic, July 9, 2012; Todd Ruger, Senate Committee Approves Three Federal District Court Nominees, The Blog of Legal Times, July 12, 2012.

Judicial Conduct

2.         According to the Wasau Daily Herald, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission concluded its investigation into whether judges who signed the recall petition for Governor Walker acted within the law.  The Commission concluded that the judges “acted within their rights and the bounds of judicial ethics” in doing so. The article highlighted the response one judge from Brown County, Judge Don Zuidmulder, sent to the Commission when asked for a clarification of his actions. As Judge Zuidmulder noted, “the statute, at least as I read it, it says that every qualified elector in the state has a right to sign a recall petition . . . .  I just don't see how being a judge disables you from your responsibilities to participate consistent with those duties in your government."

Eric Litke, Judicial Commission Clears Judges who Signed Walker Recall, Wausau Daily Herald, July 11, 2012.

3.         A police union in Pittsburgh has created a complaint form to document inappropriate behavior by district judges, including disrespectful treatment and inadequate bonds set for violent offenders. According to Sgt. Michael LaPorte, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, “It’s happening more and more. It’s happening by the same judges, and they’re not being held responsible for their behavior.” LaPorte also said that this system will be used in order to make decisions about endorsements at election time. Meanwhile, Claire Capristo, the County Chief Deputy Court Administrator, defended the review system already in place. Capristo said that the Judicial Conduct Board hears complaints regarding ethical violations, and that complaints regarding discrimination or harassment go to the court administrator. She went on to say that this oversight has been in place since 2008, and the court administrator has not received any complaints from people who are not court employees.

Margaret Harding, Pittsburgh Police to Track the Actions of Judges, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 6, 2012.

Diversity on the Bench

4.         In Indiana, over 70% of the applicants for the open Supreme Court seat are women. As a Courier Press article notes, Governor Mitch Daniels “will face pressure to choose a woman.” There are no female justices currently on Indiana’s high court. Only one woman—Myra Selby, who served from 1994-1999—has ever sat on the Supreme Court. Indiana has a judicial nominating commission, which will be tasked with narrowing the 22 applications to three before submitting their choices to the governor for final approval.

Associated Press, Sixteen Women Apply for Indiana Supreme Court Vacancy, The Post-Tribune, July 7, 2012; Eric Bradner, All 22 Indiana Supreme Court Applicants will be Interviewed for Open Position, Evansville Corrier and Press, July 6, 2012.

Miscellaneous

5.         According to The Star-Ledger, three Democratic senators in New Jersey are calling for an investigation by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner into allegations that Superior Court Judges Siobhan Teare and Verna Leath, who were facing renomination, were told that Governor Chris Christie would end their judicial careers if they did not convince State Senator Nia Gill to support former Attorney General Paula Dow’s judicial nomination. Rabner responded to the senators in a letter dated June 22, in which he thanked them for bringing the matter to the attention of the court but later declined to comment further. While Judges Teare and Leath were subsequently renominated and Dow was nominated—and confirmed—to a Superior Court judgeship in Burlington County, the Ledger notes that “the judicial logjam in Essex County, heading into its 18th month, resulted from 12 vacancies that Christie has refused to fill while seeking the Essex Democratic senators’ approval of Dow.”

Mary Ann Spoto, N.J. Judges were Allegedly Pressured to Back Paula Dow's Nomination to Bench, The Star-Ledger, July 9, 2012; Geoff Mulvihill, 3 N.J. Senators Ask Court to Probe Alleged Pressuring in Nomination, Associated Press (in the Philadelphia Inquirer), July 9, 2012.

6.         A Quad City Times article examining the ideological division among Iowa Supreme Court Justices notes that the state’s high court “is set up to be less ideological by virtue of the way commissions pick judicial nominees, instead of relying solely on the chief executive to do so.”  Nonetheless, according to the article, some patterns are emerging, such as Justice Bruce Zager’s participation in every majority decision, and court observers are paying close attention to the state’s 2012 retention elections, after three justices were ousted in 2010 for their participation in the court’s same-sex marriage ruling.  As a previous E-lert highlighted, the 2012 Iowa GOP platform includes a demand that state legislators impeach the remaining Iowa judges who participated in the unanimous 2009 ruling that permitted same-sex marriages in the state.

Mike Wiser, Iowa Supreme Court Character after Upheaval Coming into Focus, Quad City Times, July 15, 2012.