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Friday, January 27, 2012

Vacancy on Supreme Court 2012 - A first look at the applicants

Thanks to IU Robert McKinney School of Law's Prof Joel Schumm for this first look at the candidates:

Number of Applicants

After a record 34 applicants applied for the 2010 vacancy, the mere fifteen for this vacancy is a bit surprising. The quality of the pool, though, is impressive. Based on the press release information about interviews on February 8 and 9, it seems clear that the process will not be re-opened and extended as it was in 1994 when only ten applicants applied for the seat vacated by Justice Givan and secured by Justice Myra Selby.

Re-Applications

Although I predicted in this post that several of the 33 unsuccessful applicants from 2010 would likely reapply, only three did: finalists Judge Robyn Moberly and Mr. Karl Mulvaney as well as Judge Cynthia Ayers, an applicant who did not advance to the second round of interviews. Les Shively was a finalist for the 2007 Court of Appeals vacancy for which Judge Elaine Brown was appointed.

Gender Diversity

Although women comprised slighted more than half of the applicants in 2010 (19/34), women are slightly under half of the applicant pool for this vacancy (7/15).

Geographic Diversity

A whopping two-thirds of the applicants are from Indianapolis, and three of the remaining five are from Southern Indiana (Shively from Evansville, Schultz from Columbus, Granger from Floyd County) and two from Northern Indiana (Trent from Lafayette, Pagano from Lake County).

Judicial and Other Backgrounds

Five of the applicants are currently trial judges and another (Judge Bradford) previously served as a trial judge and now serves on the Indiana Court of Appeals. Jane Seigel is executive director of the Indiana Judicial Center.
Five of the applicants are currently in private practice: Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. O’Bryan, Ms. Reeder, Mr. Shively, and Ms. Trent.

Mr. Massa is executive director of the Criminal Justice Institute, Ms. McMath is a full-time appellate public defender, and Mr. Schultz is Executive Director of the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority.

The Non-Elephant(s) in the Room

Although the Indiana Constitution provides for merit selection without regard to political party, the vast majority of applicants and nearly all finalists have been of the Governor’s political party. At least one applicant for this vacancy is a Democrat and one previously ran for judge as an Independent.

Future Chief Justice?

The Commission will send three names to the Governor for one appointment as a justice on the Court. Soon after that selection the Commission will then consider which of the justices to name Chief Justice. The newly appointed justice may well apply for that position, and some of these applicants are likely interested in and would be well-qualified for the position.

Here are the 15 applicants, with the links we could find this evening. Next week the candidates' applications and photos will be available:

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 27, 2012 06:54 PM
Posted to Vacancy on Supreme Court 2012