Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi
Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi is a judge of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. She assumed office on August 8, 2017. Her current term ends on February 12, 2026.
Hantz Marconi was nominated to the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on June 7, 2017, to succeed former Justice Carol Ann Conboy.[1] She was unanimously confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council on June 21, 2017.[2] To read more about judicial selection in New Hampshire, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Hantz Marconi received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Hantz Marconi received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of New Hampshire in 1977 and a J.D. from Chicago Kent College of Law in 1992. After law school, she clerked for Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justices Caroline Glassman and Robert B. Clifford. Before her appointment to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Hantz Marconi was an attorney and shareholder at Sheehan, Phinney, Bass & Green.[1][5]
Hantz Marconi was a member of Gov. John Lynch's (D) judicial selection commission from 2005 to 2011.[6] She has also been involved with the New Hampshire Board of Bar Examiners, the New Hampshire Women's Bar Association, and the Domestic Violence Emergency (DOVE) Program. She previously served on the board of New Hampshire Legal Assistance.[5]
Appointments
New Hampshire Supreme Court (2017)
Hantz Marconi was nominated to the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on June 7, 2017, to succeed former Justice Carol Ann Conboy.[1] She was unanimously confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council on June 21, 2017, and sworn in on August 8, 2017.[2][5] Hantz Marconi's term will end on February 12, 2026, when she will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.[7]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Anna Barbara
Hantz Marconi
New Hampshire
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Hantz Marconi donated $5,500 to Republican candidates. She was appointed by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) in 2017. At the time of her appointment New Hampshire was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in New Hampshire
- See also: Judicial selection in New Hampshire
The five justices on the New Hampshire Supreme Court are selected by gubernatorial appointment. The governor's nominee must be confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council.[10][11] The five members of the executive council are chosen every two years in partisan elections.[12] As of April 2023, it had been customary since 2000 for the governor to establish a judicial selection commission by executive order to seek out, evaluate, and recommend candidates for nomination.[13][14]
Justices may serve on the court until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70.[15]
Qualifications
State law does not stipulate any particular qualifications for appointment to the supreme court.[16]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by gubernatorial appointment. The position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court rather than a temporary leadership position.[17][16]
Vacancies
Vacancies on the court are filled through gubernatorial appointment. A judicial selection commission recommends candidates to the governor, the governor selects a candidate, and the candidate must be confirmed by the Executive Council.[16] There is one current vacancy on the New Hampshire Supreme Court, out of the court's five judicial positions. The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
Noteworthy events
Felony indictment and plea
On October 6, 2025, Hantz Marconi pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of criminal solicitation of misuse of position.[18] As part of her plea, Hantz Marconi was required to pay a $1,200 fine.[18] Her law license was subsequently reinstated,[19] and on October 15, Hantz Marconi returned to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.[20]
On October 16, 2024, Hantz Marconi was indicted by a grand jury on two felonies and five misdemeanors related to alleged interference in a criminal investigation involving her husband, Geno Marconi.[21] At the time of the indictment, Hantz Marconi had been on administrative leave from the New Hampshire Supreme Court since July. In a statement, her lawyers said, "She did not violate any law or rule."[21] Hantz Marconi's husband was under investigation for multiple allegations, including misuse of funds, while serving as Director of New Hampshire State Ports and Harbor.[22]
On October 31, 2024, Hantz Marconi was suspended from the practice of law in New Hampshire prior to a scheduled arraignment.[23] Hantz Marconi's lawyers filed motions to dismiss the charges against her.[24] The motions were rejected by a judge in December 2024. On April 9, 2025, Hantz Marconi's lawyers again filed motions to dismiss all but one of the charges against her.[25] Jury selection was set for September 2, with a pre-trial hearing scheduled on August 18.[26]
See also
External links
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Officeholder New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 WMUR Manchester, "Sununu to nominate Hantz Marconi as NH Supreme Court associate justice," June 6, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Seacoastonline.com, "Stratham’s Hantz confirmed for NH Supreme Court," June 21, 2017
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court - Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, "Governor Chris Sununu to Nominate Bobbie Hantz Marconi as Next Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court," June 6, 2017
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "State Government," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "About the Supreme Court," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ NH.gov, "State Constitution - Executive Power - Governor," accessed August 24, 2021 (Article 46)
- ↑ State of New Hampshire Executive Council, "About Us," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Judicial Selection in the States: New Hampshire | Overview," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "Executive order 2000-9: An order establishing a Judicial Selection Commission," June 30, 2000
- ↑ The General Court of New Hampshire, "New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Title LI," accessed August 24, 2021 (Section 493:2)
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New Hampshire | Selection of Judges," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ While a 2001 law amended Section 490:1 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes to make the chief justice position a rotating position based on seniority, the New Hampshire Supreme Court found this law to be unconstitutional in 2004.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 InDepthNH.org, "NH Supreme Court Justice Hantz Marconi To Plead ‘No Contest’ To Misdemeanor, No Jail Time, Fined $1,200," accessed October 7, 2025
- ↑ WMUR9, "License to practice law reinstated for NH Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ WMUR9, "New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Hantz Marconi back on bench after conviction," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 New Hampshire Bulletin, "New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Marconi indicted on two felony charges," accessed October 7, 2025
- ↑ State Court Report, "State Supreme Court Justices and Ethics Investigations," June 11, 2025
- ↑ InDepthNH.org, "Indicted NH Supreme Court Justice Hantz Marconi Suspended from Practice of Law," accessed October 7, 2025
- ↑ nhpr, "Judge rejects request to remove AG from overseeing Hantz Marconi criminal case," December 19, 2024
- ↑ News 9, "Attorneys for state Supreme Court justice file new motions to dismiss charges," accessed October 7, 2025
- ↑ Union Leader, "Judge denies Hantz Marconi's motion to dismiss," March 20, 2024
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Hampshire • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Hampshire
State courts:
New Hampshire Supreme Court • New Hampshire Superior Courts • New Hampshire Circuit Courts • New Hampshire Probate Courts • New Hampshire District Court • New Hampshire Family Division
State resources:
Courts in New Hampshire • New Hampshire judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Hampshire
