The Indiana Senate approved a bill reducing local attorney input into who serves on the judicial nominating commissions for Lake and St. Joseph counties Monday despite objections from Democratic senators, one of whom insinuated the changes were triggered by anonymous complaints from candidates who had lost out on judge appointments.
A bill that would change how superior court judges are nominated in Lake and St. Joseph counties was uniformly opposed by lawyers and judges from those counties in a Senate hearing Wednesday but narrowly advanced on a 5-4 vote.
Legislation that has drawn fire from bar associations and members of the legal community who say proposed changes to judicial appointments would politicize the trial court benches in Lake and St. Joseph counties will be heard Wednesday by a Senate committee.
Your publication recently printed an article discussing the Indiana State Bar Association’s objections to Indiana Senate Joint Resolution 16. The bar association’s complaint about SJR 16, and the slant of the article, is that the resolution proposes to “strip” Hoosier voters of the power to retain Indiana appellate court judges and Supreme Court justices. I do not believe that complaint is well-founded.
Lawyers and judges interested in applying for an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals bench may now do so, the Indiana Supreme Court announced Friday.
For the second time this year, the Indiana State Bar Association is publicly opposing legislation targeting judicial selection in Indiana, this time speaking against a bill that it says would “unnecessarily change a working system” for judicial selection in Lake and St. Joseph counties.
A bill in the Legislature would restructure the composition of judicial nominating commissions in Lake and St. Joseph counties. Currently, an even number of attorneys and nonattorney members are appointed by local stakeholders, but the proposal would reduce attorney representation, which has prompted a backlash in the northern Indiana legal communities.
By initiating a constitutional amendment based on misinformation, three Indiana Republican state senators, now joined by multiple others, have proposed a radical resolution to eliminate citizen involvement in the retention vote of appellate judges, changing the current selection process that has been in place for 50 years. This proposal also severely decreases judicial independence and increases the political pressure on our state’s appellate judiciary. Indeed, if successful, the proposal would give the legislative branch far greater control over the Indiana state appellate judges and justices. It would also further embed in Indiana’s Constitution more systemic racism.
Legal professionals in Lake and St. Joseph counties are raising serious concerns about advancing legislation that would change the structure of the local judicial nominating commissions that shape the state trial court judiciary in the northern Indiana counties.
The minimum number of court senior judge service days for the upcoming year has been doubled from 15 to 30, and courts are encouraged to use senior judges to assist during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Indiana Supreme Court announced in a Wednesday order.
There’s more than one way to become a judge in Indiana, and with Election Day less than a week away, here is a look at the various judicial selection methods in Indiana and how judges and lawyers view them.
The next Indiana Court of Appeals judge will be a woman, as three women have been selected as finalists to fill an upcoming vacancy following two rounds of interviews with the Judicial Nominating Commission. Their applications will now go to the governor for final consideration.
The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission is one step closer to choosing three finalists for an Indiana Court of Appeals vacancy as it holds its second and final round of candidate interviews Wednesday.
Like most everything else during the pandemic, the recent interviews to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals looked a little different. On June 10, the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission logged on to Zoom to interview candidates to succeed retiring Court of Appeals Judge John Baker.
Seven semifinalists vying for the Indiana Court of Appeals judicial vacancy left by retiring Judge John Baker will be interviewed in person by the Judicial Nominating Commission on July 1. The interviews come after 13 applicants were interviewed remotely earlier this month.
With seven semifinalists named, the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission is preparing for a second round of interviews with candidates who are seeking to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission has selected seven of 13 candidates to advance to the next round of interviews as the commission works to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals.
In a first for Indiana, applicants seeking to join the state’s appellant bench were interviewed remotely Wednesday. After multiple continuations, the seven-member Judicial Nominating Commission logged in to Zoom on Wednesday morning to hold 20-minute interviews with candidates seeking to succeed retiring Court of Appeals Judge John Baker.
After two previous schedule changes, interviews of candidates to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals will be held remotely next week, a move the courts say will allow the process to move forward while respecting continuing social distancing guidelines.
A total of 13 candidates to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals will be interviewed in May, one month later than originally scheduled due to social distancing requirements to stem the spread of COVID-19.