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Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Ind. Courts - Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard has filed for re-appointment as Chief Justice of Indiana
This item in the Muncie Free Press brought to the ILB's attention this public notice on the Indiana Court's website:
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING AND PUBLIC NOTICE OF CANDIDATE FOR APPOINTMENT TO CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIANAFrom p. 2 of my paper , "Voting to Retain or Reject Indiana Judges and Justices" :The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission issues this Public Notice pursuant to IC 5-14-1.5-5, IC 33-27-3-2, and IC 33-27-3-6. Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard has filed for re-appointment as Chief Justice of Indiana and has consented to public disclosure of pertinent candidate information within the parameters of IC 33-27-3-2(b), (d), and (g). On Wednesday, December 13, 2006, the Nominating Commission will convene at approximately 10:30 a.m. in Room 319, State House, Indianapolis, Indiana, in an open meeting, for the purpose of interviewing Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard.
The candidate's application and any attributable communications concerning the candidate will be available for public inspection and copying pursuant to IC 33-27-3-2(d) and IC 33-27-3-6(e).
An agenda will be posted at Room 319, State House, Indianapolis, Indiana pursuant to IC 5-14-1.5-4. [emphasis added]
How is the Chief Justice selected? Article 7, section 3 provides in part: “The Chief Justice of the State shall be selected by the judicial nominating commission from the members of the Supreme Court and he shall retain that office for a period of five years, subject to reappointment in the same manner, except that a member of the Court may resign the office of Chief Justice without resigning from the Court.”Who is on the judicial nominating commission? This Court webpage, which indicates it was last modified 6/13/06, lists the members, but does not distinguish between attorney members, elected by the bar, and citizen members, appointed by the Governor. From p. 5 of my paper, "Analysis of another effort to alter the Indiana judicial selection and retention process":Justice Shepard initially was named Chief Justice in March of 1987, which means that he has been reappointed in 1992, 1997, and 2002. His current term ends in 2007.
The three attorney members on the current Commission were elected for three years rather than six, and their terms do not expire at the same time. Rather, the term of James O. McDonald, Terre Haute (First District), ends December 31, 2006; the term of James H. Young, Indianapolis (Second District), ends December 31, 2007; and the term of Sherrill Wm. Colvin, Fort Wayne (Third District), ends December 31, 2008.As far as the ILB knows, the Governor still has not filled the vacant 3rd District citizen posiition, vacant now since March 2005.The citizen members of the Commission, appointed by the Governor, also now have three-year terms rather than six-year terms. The term of Derrel E. Zellers, Tell City (First District), ends December 31, 2007; and the term of Payton Wells, Indianapolis (Second District), ends December 31, 2006.
The citizen commissioner slot for the Third District has been vacant since March 2005 when the serving commissioner resigned. That three-year term for the Third District expired December 31, 2005. The opening is now in a new cycle that runs through December 31, 2008. Although IC 33-2.1-4-1(e)17 requires that “vacancies in the office of non-attorney commissioners shall be filled by the governor within sixty days after he has notice of such vacancy,” the Third District spot has been unfilled now for approximately one year.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 12, 2006 08:36 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts