Joel Horton
Joel Horton was a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court. He was first appointed to the court by Republican Governor Butch Otter in September 2007 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Linda Copple Trout. Justice Horton was successfully retained to an additional six-year term on May 27, 2008.[1][2] He ran for re-election in 2014 and won another six-year term.[3]
Horton retired on December 31, 2018.[4] Click here for more information about this vacancy.
Education
Horton received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Washington in 1982 and his J.D. from the University of Idaho College of Law in 1985.[1]
Career
- 2007-2018: Justice, Idaho Supreme Court
- 1996-2007: Judge, Idaho 4th Judicial District
- 1994-1996: Judge, Ada County Magistrate Court
- 1992-1994: Prosecutor, Ada County
- 1991-1992: Deputy attorney general, Ada County
- 1988-1990: Prosecutor, Ada County
- 1986-1988: Deputy prosecuting attorney, Twin Falls [1]
Elections
2014
See also: Idaho judicial elections, 2014
Horton ran for re-election to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Primary: He was elected in the primary on May 20, 2014, receiving 65.8 percent of the vote. He competed against William "Breck" Seiniger.
[3]
2008
| Idaho Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2008 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
Joel Horton 
|
75,691 | 50.1% | ||
| John Bradbury | 75,438 | 49.9% | ||
- Click here for 2008 General Election Results from the Idaho Secretary of State.
On May 27, 2008, Horton was re-elected to the court for a six-year term defeating his competitor John Bradbury. The election was extraordinarily close, with Horton winning 74,849 votes to 74,573 for Bradbury, a margin of difference of 276 votes.<ref>KTVB News, "Horton wins Supreme Court race by 0.02%," 2008 (dead link) </ref
Political outlook
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Horton received a campaign finance score of -0.21, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of 0.75 that justices received in Idaho.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[5]
See also
External links
- State of Idaho Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court," accessed June 2, 2014
- OregonLive.com, "District Judge Joel Horton named to Idaho Supreme Court," September 18, 2007
- KPVA News 6, "Idaho Supreme Court Justice Joel Horton Talks About Race," May 7, 2008
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 State of Idaho Judicial Branch, "Hon. Justice Joel D. Horton," accessed June 2, 2014
- ↑ Oregon Live, "District Judge Joel Horton named to Idaho Supreme Court," September 18, 2007, accessed May 28, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Idaho Secretary of State, "List of All Candidate Declarations for 2014," March 28, 2014
- ↑ The Associated Press, "Idaho Supreme Court justice to retire at end of year," June 29, 2018
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Idaho • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Idaho
State courts:
Idaho Supreme Court • Idaho Court of Appeals • Idaho District Courts • Idaho Magistrate Division
State resources:
Courts in Idaho • Idaho judicial elections • Judicial selection in Idaho
