Iowa Supreme Court justice vacancy (July 2022)
| Iowa Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Appel vacancy |
| Date: July 13, 2022 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: David May |
| Date: July 27, 2022 |
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) appointed David May to the Iowa Supreme Court on July 27, 2022.[1] May succeeded Brent Appel, who retired on July 13, 2022, upon reaching the court's mandatory retirement age. May was Gov. Reynolds' fifth nominee to the seven-member supreme court.
At the time of the vacancy under Iowa law, the seven justices on the Iowa Supreme Court were selected through the assisted appointment method.[2]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources on the process to fill the Iowa Supreme Court vacancy:
- An overview of the appointee.
- A list of finalists recommended to the governor.
- A list of candidates who applied to the vacancy.
- An overview of the selection process.
- An overview of the court following the vacancy.
- An overview of the justice who left office.
- A list of other state supreme court appointments in 2022.
The appointee
- See also: David May
David May is a judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals. He assumed office in 2019. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) appointed May on April 27, 2019, to succeed Judge David Danilson.[1]
May earned a B.A. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1993, a master of public health (M.P.H.) in health administration and policy from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 1995, and a J.D. from the Drake University Law School in 1998.[3][4]
Appointee candidates and nominations
Ballotpedia will post information on candidates and prospective appointees as information becomes available. If you know of information that should be included here, please email us.
Finalists
The State Judicial Nominating Commission recommended three finalists to Gov. Reynolds.[5][6]
- Alan Heavens, administrative judge for Allamakee and Clayton Counties
- David May, judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals
- William J. Miller, attorney with law firm Dorsey & Whitney
Applicants
The State Judicial Nominating Commission interviewed five applicants for the vacancy:[7]
- Timothy Gartin, attorney with law firm Hastings, Gartin & Boettger LLP
- Alan Heavens, administrative judge for Allamakee and Clayton Counties
- David May, judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals
- William J. Miller, attorney with law firm Dorsey & Whitney
- Patrick H. Tott, Chief Judge, Third Judicial District
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in Iowa
The seven justices on the Iowa Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. When a vacancy occurs on the supreme court, the State Judicial Nominating Commission submits a list of three potential nominees to the governor, who appoints one to serve as a judge. The commission consists of 17 members—nine appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Iowa State Senate and eight (two from each congressional district) elected by lawyers.[2]
Iowa law states that no more than a simple majority of the state nominating commission may be of the same gender.[8]
Newly appointed judges serve for one year after their appointment. They must then compete in a yes-no retention election (occurring during the regularly scheduled general election) if they wish to remain on the court. They then serve eight-year terms.[9]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:[9]
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- a member of the Iowa bar;
- a resident of the state, district, or county to which they are appointed; and
- under the age of 72.
Note: Retirement at 72 is mandatory, though older judges may apply to become a senior judge. Senior judges must work a minimum of 13 weeks a year and are to receive a monthly retirement annuity and an annual stipend. They must retire at age 78 (or 80, if reappointed by the supreme court for additional one-year terms).[10]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is elected by peer vote and serves a two-year term.[9]
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. The new appointee serves for at least one year and then stands for retention.[2]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
Makeup of the court
- See also: Iowa Supreme Court
Justices
Following Appel's retirement, the Iowa Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Thomas Waterman | Appointed by Gov. Terry E. Branstad (R) in 2011 | |
| ■ Edward Mansfield | Appointed by Gov. Terry E. Branstad (R) in 2011 | |
| ■ Matthew McDermott | Appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in 2020 | |
| ■ Dana Oxley | Appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in 2020 | |
| ■ Christopher McDonald | Appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in 2019 | |
| ■ Susan Christensen | Appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in 2018 |
About the court
| Iowa Supreme Court |
|---|
|
| Court Information |
| Justices: 7 |
| Founded: 1846 |
| Location: Des Moines |
| Salary |
| Associates: $201,609[11] |
| Judicial Selection |
| Method: Assisted appointment (governor-controlled commission) |
| Term: 8 years |
| Active justices |
| Susan Christensen, Edward Mansfield, David May, Matthew McDermott, Christopher McDonald, Dana Oxley, Thomas Waterman |
Founded in 1846, the Iowa Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Susan Christensen. As of September 2022, all seven judges on the court were appointed by a Republican governor.
The state supreme court meets in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building in Des Moines, Iowa.[12]
In Iowa, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the governor. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
About Justice Appel
- See also: Brent Appel
Justice Brent Appel joined the Iowa Supreme Court in 2006. He was appointed to the court by Governor Tom Vilsack (D).
Before serving on the state supreme court, Appel previously served as Iowa's deputy attorney general from 1983 until 1987.
Appel earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford University in 1973 and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law in 1977.[3]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2022
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2022
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2022. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2021.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Office of the Governor of Iowa, "Gov. Reynolds appoints David May to the Supreme Court," July 27, 2022 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "appt" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Iowa Judicial Nominating Commissions, "State Judicial Nominating Commission," accessed September 13, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Iowa Judicial Branch, "Brent R. Appel," accessed July 14, 2021
- ↑ LinkedIn, "David May," accessed April 29, 2019
- ↑ Iowa Capitol Dispatch, "Three finalists named for Iowa Supreme Court vacancy," June 27, 2022
- ↑ Iowa Judicial Branch, "Three Nominees Chosen for Iowa Supreme Court Vacancy ," June 27, 2022
- ↑ Iowa Judicial Branch, "List of Applicants and Interview Schedule for the Iowa Supreme Court vacancy," June 20, 2022
- ↑ Iowa Legislature, "CHAPTER 46, 46.1 and 46.2," accessed September 13, 2021
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Iowa," September 13, 2021
- ↑ Iowa Legislature, "Judicial Retirement System," updated September 2015
- ↑ The salary of the chief justice may be higher than an associate justice.
- ↑ Iowa Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court," accessed September 17, 2021
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Iowa, Southern District of Iowa • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Iowa, Southern District of Iowa
State courts:
Iowa Supreme Court • Iowa Court of Appeals • Iowa district courts
State resources:
Courts in Iowa • Iowa judicial elections • Judicial selection in Iowa
| |||||||
