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Gregory D'Auria
2017 - Present
8
Gregory D'Auria is a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2017.
D'Auria became a member of this court by appointment. He was nominated by Gov. Dan Malloy (D) in February 2017 to succeed retired Justice Peter Zarella.[1] The Connecticut General Assembly unanimously confirmed D'Auria on March 8, 2017.[2] To read more about judicial selection in Connecticut, 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] D'Auria received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
D'Auria previously served as solicitor general of the state of Connecticut.
Biography
D'Auria received his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Connecticut in 1985 and his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1988.[5]
D'Auria clerked for state supreme court Chief Justice Ellen A. Peters and then worked for Shipman & Goodwin before working in the Connecticut Attorney General office starting in 1993. There, he served as an assistant attorney general, an associate attorney general for litigation, and the head of the Special Litigation and Charities Unit. Attorney General George C. Jepsen (D) appointed D'Auria solicitor general in 2011, and he held that position until shortly before Malloy appointed him to the state supreme court in 2017.[5]
D'Auria became a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers in 2009. He was also a founding director of the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society.[5]
Appointments
2017
Gov. Dan Malloy (D) nominated D'Auria to the Connecticut Supreme Court in February 2017.[1] The Connecticut General Assembly unanimously confirmed D'Auria on March 8, 2017.[2]
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.[6]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[7]
- 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.
Gregory
D'Auria
Connecticut
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Was a registered Democrat before 2020
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
D’Auria served as Solicitor General of Connecticut as a Democrat. He was a registered member of the Democratic Party prior to 2020. D’Auria was appointed by Gov. Dan Malloy (D) in 2017. At the time of his appointment, Connecticut was a Democratic trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Connecticut
- See also: Judicial selection in Connecticut
The seven justices on the Connecticut Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission is responsible for screening candidates and submitting a shortlist to the governor. The commission is made up of 12 members: six appointed by the governor and six appointed by leaders in the state legislature. The governor must appoint a justice from the commission's shortlist and the appointee must then be confirmed by a majority vote of the Connecticut General Assembly.[8][9]
Justices serve for eight years after their appointment. To continue to serve on the court, they must be renominated by the governor and reapproved by the General Assembly.[9]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a state resident;
- licensed to practice law in the state; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).[10]
Chief justice
The chief justice is appointed by the governor and confirmed by a majority vote of the Connecticut General Assembly. In the event of a vacancy, however, the governor may nominate an associate justice to serve as chief without involving the judicial nominating commission. Chief justices appointed this way will serve out the remainder of their predecessor's term rather than a full eight years, which is the typical term length of the chief justice.[8]
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 judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list with legislative approval. The new appointee serves an eight-year term.[11]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Officeholder Connecticut Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Connecticut Mirror, "Malloy picks Gregory D’Auria for state Supreme Court," February 1, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The CT Mirror, "Palmer overcomes GOP opposition, wins another term on high court," March 8, 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 State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Biographies of Supreme Court Justices, Supreme CourtAssociate Justice Gregory T. D’Auria," accessed June 22, 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.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Sec. 51-44a. Judicial Selection Commission. Members. Duties. Nomination of judges by Governor.," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Article Fifth. of the Judicial Department - Sec. 2.," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Frequently Asked Media Questions," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
Federal courts:
Second Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Connecticut • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Connecticut
State courts:
Connecticut Supreme Court • Connecticut Appellate Court • Connecticut Superior Court • Connecticut Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Connecticut • Connecticut judicial elections • Judicial selection in Connecticut
