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Iowa Supreme Court justice vacancy (September 2018)
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| Zager Vacancy Iowa Supreme Court |
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Appointee candidates Selection process Noteworthy events About Justice Zager |
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| Recent news External links Footnotes |
Iowa Supreme Court Justice Bruce B. Zager retired on September 3, 2018. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady said of Zager's retirement, "Justice Zager has been a very important part of the supreme court and he will be missed both as a clear-thinking, deliberative judge and as a good friend."[1]
On August 1, 2018, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) appointed Judge Susan Christensen to fill the vacancy created by Justice Zager's retirement.[2] Christensen was Gov. Reynolds' first nominee to the seven-member supreme court. Under Iowa law, she was selected by the governor with help from a nominating commission.
The appointee
- See also: Susan Christensen
On August 1, 2018, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) appointed Judge Susan Christensen to fill the vacancy created by Justice Zager's retirement. She was sworn in on September 4, 2018.[2]
Christensen was a district judge of Iowa District 4. She was appointed to this position in 2015.[3]
Christensen received her undergraduate degree from Judson College in 1988 and her J.D. from Creighton University in 1991.[3]
She was an assistant county attorney in Shelby County from 1991 to 2007, Harrison County from 1996 to 2007, and Crawford County in 2007. She was in private practice with the Harlan firm Larson, Childs, Hall and Christensen from 1991 to 2003 and had her own family law practice from 2003 to 2007. From 2007 to her appointment in 2015, she was a district associate judge in Iowa District 4.[3]
She was the third female justice in the history of the court.
Christensen is the daughter of former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Jerry Larson, who was the longest-serving justice in the state supreme court's history. [2]
The selection process
Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court are appointed by the governor with help from a nominating commission. When a vacancy occurs on one of the courts, the commission submits a list of three potential nominees to the governor, who appoints one to serve as judge. 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 continue serving.
Within sixty days of receiving notice of the vacancy from the secretary of state, a commission must forward the names of three nominees to the Iowa governor, who will appoint one to the court.[4]
The appellate commission is composed of fifteen members: One chairperson (the senior associate justice of the Iowa Supreme Court); one elected member from each of the state's seven congressional districts (chosen by resident members of the bar who are local to each district); and one appointed member from each of the state's seven congressional districts (chosen by the governor with Iowa Senate confirmation).[5]
Appointee candidates and nominations
The state judicial nominating commission selected three nominees out of 21 candidates to replace Justice Zager.[6] They were:
- Susan Christensen, District judge of Iowa District 4
- Terri Combs, Attorney at Faegre Baker Daniels, LLP
- Kellyann M. Lekar, District judge of Iowa District 1B
Noteworthy events
Supreme Court to gain female member for the first time in seven years
According to The Gazette, 70 percent of the applicants to replace Zager were women. The Gazette also reported that the appointment of one of the three final nominees would end the seven-year period in which the Iowa Supreme Court was an all-male panel.[7] Prior to the appointment, Iowa was the only state in the country with no female Supreme Court members.[8]
About Justice Zager
- See also: Bruce B. Zager
Justice Zager was appointed by Republican Governor Terry Branstad in 2011.[9][10] Zager received his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa in 1975 and his J.D. from Drake University Law School in 1980.[3]
Prior to his appointment to the supreme court, Zager served as a judge on the Iowa District 1B court from 1999 to 2011. He also previously worked in private practice and as a part-time Black Hawk Assistant County Attorney for 12 years.[3]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ WHOtv.com, "Iowa Supreme Court Justice Bruce Zager Retiring," May 4, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 LittleVillageMag.com, "Gov. Reynolds appoints new Iowa Supreme Court judge," August 1, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Iowa Judicial Branch, "District Four Judges and Magistrates," accessed September 15, 2016 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "bio" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ State of Iowa, "Nomination," accessed July 18, 2014
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Judicial Nominating Commissions," archived December 3, 2011
- ↑ WeAreIowa.com, "Iowa names three finalists for vacancy on state Supreme Court," July 10, 2018
- ↑ The Gazette, "Iowa Supreme Court to get a woman," July 10, 2018
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Here are the three finalists for the open Iowa Supreme Court seat," July 10, 2018
- ↑ Eastern Iowa News Now, "New Justices take the bench next week," March 14, 2011
- ↑ Office of the Governor of Iowa, "Branstad names Iowa District Court Judge Bruce Zager to the Iowa Supreme Court," February 23, 2011
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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
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