James Bassett
James Bassett was a judge of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He assumed office on July 19, 2012. He left office on August 31, 2025.
Bassett was nominated as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. John Lynch (D) on May 9, 2012, to succeed Justice James Duggan.[1] He was confirmed to the court by the New Hampshire Executive Council in a 4-1 vote on May 23, 2012.[2] To read more about judicial selection in New Hampshire, 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] Bassett received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Bassett retired from the New Hampshire Supreme Court on August 31, 2025.[5]
Biography
Bassett was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor's degree in government in 1978. In 1982, he graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law.[6][1] After law school, Bassett clerked for Andrew Caffrey, chief judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.[7] Bassett joined Orr & Reno in 1985 and was a senior litigator at the time of his appointment to the supreme court.[1]
Appointments
New Hampshire Supreme Court
2012
Bassett was nominated as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. John Lynch (D) on May 9, 2012, to succeed Justice James Duggan.[1] He was confirmed to the court by the New Hampshire Executive Council in a 4-1 vote on May 23, 2012, and sworn in on July 19, 2012.[2][8][9] Bassett retired from the court on August 31, 2025.[5]
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.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- 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.
James
Bassett
New Hampshire
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Was a registered Republican
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Bassett donated $5,085 to Republican candidates. He was a registered Republican prior to 2020. He was appointed by Gov. John Lynch (D) in 2012.
State supreme court judicial selection in New Hampshire
- See also: Judicial selection in New Hampshire
The five justices on the New Hampshire Supreme Court are selected by gubernatorial appointment. The governor's nominee must be confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council.[12][13] The five members of the executive council are chosen every two years in partisan elections.[14] As of April 2023, it had been customary since 2000 for the governor to establish a judicial selection commission by executive order to seek out, evaluate, and recommend candidates for nomination.[15][16]
Justices may serve on the court until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70.[17]
Qualifications
State law does not stipulate any particular qualifications for appointment to the supreme court.[18]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by gubernatorial appointment. The position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court rather than a temporary leadership position.[19][18]
Vacancies
Vacancies on the court are filled through gubernatorial appointment. A judicial selection commission recommends candidates to the governor, the governor selects a candidate, and the candidate must be confirmed by the Executive Council.[18] There is one current vacancy on the New Hampshire Supreme Court, out of the court's five judicial positions. 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 1.3 New Hampshire Bar Association, "James Bassett Nominated to Supreme Court," archived October 22, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Deseret News, "Council OK's Lynch nominee to NH Supreme Court," May 23, 2012
- ↑ 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 New England Public Media, "Bassett to retire from NH Supreme Court, opening a seat for Ayotte to fill," April 15, 2025
- ↑ Dartmouth Alumni, "Dartmouth College Case Symposium Presenters," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "Statement to the Executive Council," May 18, 2012
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court - Associate Justice James P. Bassett," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "State Government," accessed July 11, 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.
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "About the Supreme Court," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ NH.gov, "State Constitution - Executive Power - Governor," accessed August 24, 2021 (Article 46)
- ↑ State of New Hampshire Executive Council, "About Us," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Judicial Selection in the States: New Hampshire | Overview," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "Executive order 2000-9: An order establishing a Judicial Selection Commission," June 30, 2000
- ↑ The General Court of New Hampshire, "New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Title LI," accessed August 24, 2021 (Section 493:2)
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New Hampshire | Selection of Judges," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ While a 2001 law amended Section 490:1 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes to make the chief justice position a rotating position based on seniority, the New Hampshire Supreme Court found this law to be unconstitutional in 2004.
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Hampshire • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Hampshire
State courts:
New Hampshire Supreme Court • New Hampshire Superior Courts • New Hampshire Circuit Courts • New Hampshire Probate Courts • New Hampshire District Court • New Hampshire Family Division
State resources:
Courts in New Hampshire • New Hampshire judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Hampshire
