Gregory W. Moeller
2019 - Present
2027
6
Gregory W. Moeller is a judge of the Idaho Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2019. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Moeller ran for re-election for judge of the Idaho Supreme Court. He won in the general election on June 2, 2020.
Moeller first became a member of the court by appointment. Gov. Butch Otter (R) appointed Moeller in 2018 to fill the vacancy created by Justice Joel Horton's retirement.[1] Moeller served out the remainder of Horton's term, which expired January 3, 2021, and won election to a full term in 2020. 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] Moeller received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Moeller served as a judge for the 7th Judicial District in Idaho from 2009 to 2018.[4] Gov. Butch Otter (R) appointed Moeller to the court on April 2, 2009, to fill the seat vacated by Brent J. Moss.[5] He was elected to a full term in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.[6]
Biography
Moeller received a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in political science and a J.D. from Brigham Young University.[7]
After law school, Moeller worked for Rigby, Andrus & Moeller, where he became partner in 1994. From 2007 to 2009, he was an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho, where he taught a class on media law and ethics. Gov. Otter appointed Moeller to the 7th Judicial District in 2009. Moeller presided over the Upper Valley Drug Court and Mental Health Court during his tenure. Otter then appointed him to the state supreme court, where he was sworn in during January 2019. As of June 2021, Moeller chaired the Felony Sentencing, Treatment Court, Media & the Courts, and Rule 32 committees.[7]
Appointments
Idaho Supreme Court Justice Joel Horton retired on December 31, 2018.[8] He joined the court in September 2007.
Under Idaho law, an interim judge is appointed by the governor from a list of two to four names provided by a nominating commission if a midterm vacancy occurs on the court. At the end of the term, the appointed judge must be elected in nonpartisan elections to retain the seat for a six-year term.
Horton's replacement was Gov. Butch Otter's (R) fourth nominee to the five-member supreme court.
Elections
2020
See also: Idaho Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Idaho Supreme Court
Incumbent Gregory W. Moeller won election in the general election for Idaho Supreme Court on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Gregory W. Moeller (Nonpartisan) | 100.0 | 265,379 |
| Total votes: 265,379 | |||
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2014
- See also: Idaho judicial elections, 2014
Moeller ran for re-election to the 7th Judicial District. He was elected without opposition in the primary on May 20, 2014.[6]
2010
- See also: Idaho judicial elections, 2010
Moeller won re-election to the district court after running unopposed.[6]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Gregory W. Moeller did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
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.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- 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
Moeller
Idaho
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Moeller donated $100 to Republican candidates and organizations. He was appointed by Gov. Butch Otter (R) in 2018. At the time of his appointment, Idaho was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Idaho
- See also: Judicial selection in Idaho
The five justices of the Idaho Supreme Court are elected in nonpartisan elections. They serve six-year terms, after which they must seek re-election if they wish to retain their seat. To learn more about these elections, visit the Idaho judicial elections page.[11]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a judge must:
- be at least 30 years old;
- be a U.S. citizen;
- be an Idaho resident for at least two years;
- be in good standing as an active or judicial member of the state bar for at least two years; and
- a licensed attorney for at least 10 years.[11]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by peer vote to serve a four-year term. [11]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, an interim judge is appointed by the governor from a list of two to four names provided by a nominating commission. This judge will serve out the remainder of the unexpired term, after which he or she must run in a nonpartisan election to remain on the court.[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 Idaho Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ Idaho.gov, "Moeller appointed to Supreme Court; Brailsford picked for Court of Appeals," November 30, 2018
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Idaho Judicial Branch, "Seventh Judicial District," accessed April 9, 2014
- ↑ Standard Journal, "Moeller to replace Moss as 7th District Judge," April 4, 2009
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Idaho Secretary of State, "Historical data, Statewide Totals," accessed June 30, 2021
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 State of Idaho Judicial Branch, "Hon. Gregory W. Moeller," accessed July 1, 2021
- ↑ The Associated Press, "Idaho Supreme Court justice to retire at end of year," June 29, 2018
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 14, 2021
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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
