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Catherine Connors
2020 - Present
2027
5
Catherine Connors is a judge of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. She assumed office in 2020. Her current term ends on February 3, 2027.
Gov. Janet Mills (D) first appointed Connors to the court on January 6, 2020.[1] To learn more about this appointment, 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.[2] Connors received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Connors previously worked as an appellate attorney at the law firm Pierce Atwood.
Biography
Connors received her B.A. from Northwestern University in 1981 and J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1984.[4] Connors clerked for Judge John F. Grady of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She also worked as an appellate lawyer with Pierce Atwood, where she handled civil and criminal litigation matters in federal and state courts.[5]
Appointments
2020
On September 20, 2019, Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm was retiring, effective upon the confirmation of his successor.[6][7] Hjelm ultimately retired in December 2019.[1]
On January 6, 2020, Gov. Mills appointed attorney Catherine Connors to succeed Hjelm on the state supreme court. Mills also appointed Maine Superior Court Justice Andrew Horton to succeed Justice Donald Alexander, who retired in January 2020. Connors and Horton were the governor's first and second nominees to the seven-member supreme court.[1]
Under Maine law, when a vacancy occurred on the supreme court, the governor appointed a replacement, dependent on confirmation by the Maine State Senate.
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.
Catherine
Connors
Maine
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Held political office as a Republican
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Connors donated $6,850 to Republican candidates and organizations. She worked as the attorney for Republican gubernatorial candidate Susan M. Collins of Maine. Connors was appointed by Gov. Janet Mills (D). At the time of her appointment, Maine was a Democratic trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Maine
- See also: Judicial selection in Maine
The seven justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court are appointed by the governor with confirmation from the Maine State Senate.[10]
Justices serve for seven years after their appointment. To continue to serve on the court, they must be reappointed by the governor and reconfirmed by the Maine State Senate.[10]
Qualifications
State law requires that supreme court justices be "learned in the law."[11]
Chief justice
In Maine, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. The chief justice is appointed in the same manner as the other justices on the court.[10]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. The governor appoints a justice with confirmation by the Maine State Senate. The new appointee serves a seven-year term.[10]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Maine.gov, "Governor Mills Nominates Candidates to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court & Superior Court," January 6, 2020
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Martindale, "Catherine R. Connors," accessed July 26, 2021
- ↑ Pierce Atwood, "Maine Appeals," accessed July 26, 2021
- ↑ Office of Governor Janet T. Mills, "Governor Mills Thanks Justice Hjelm For His Service," September 20, 2019
- ↑ Sara Reynolds, "Email communication with Press Secretary Lindsay Crete," September 24, 2019
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Maine," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ Maine Legislature, "Title 4: Judiciary, Chapter 1: Supreme Judicial Court - §1. Constitution of the court; administrative responsibilities of the court and the Chief Justice," accessed April 3, 2023
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Maine • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Maine
State courts:
Maine Supreme Judicial Court • Maine Superior Court • Maine Business and Consumer Court • Maine District Courts • Maine Family Division • Maine Juvenile Court • Maine Probate Courts • Maine Small Claims Court • Maine Treatment Court
State resources:
Courts in Maine • Maine judicial elections • Judicial selection in Maine
