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Joseph Jabar
Joseph Jabar was a judge of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. He assumed office in 2009. He left office on January 31, 2024.
Jabar was first appointed to the Maine Supreme Court by former Gov. John Baldacci (D) in September 2009.[1] To read more about judicial selection in Maine, 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] Jabar received a confidence score of Strong Democrat.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Jabar retired on January 31, 2024. To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Biography
Jabar received his undergraduate degree in economics from Colby College in 1968 and his J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law in 1971.[4]
After graduating from law school, Jabar served as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Upon his return to Maine, he spent four years as a district attorney in Kennebec and Somerset counties. Jabar then joined the firm Jabar Batten Ringer & Murphy.
He also served in the Maine State Legislature from 1996 to 2000. His first judicial appointment was to the Maine Superior Court by former Gov. Angus King (I) in 2001.[1][4]
Appointments
Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Jabar was first appointed to the Maine Supreme Court by former Gov. John Baldacci (D) in September 2009.[1] Gov. Paul LePage (R) re-appointed Jabar in 2016.[5] He was confirmed by the state Senate in January 2017.[6]
Maine Superior Court
Jabar served on the Maine Superior Court from 2001 to 2009.
Elections
Maine House of Representatives
Jabar served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1996 to 2000.[7][8]
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.
Joseph
Jabar
Maine
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Was a registered Democrat before 2020
Partisan Profile
Details:
Jabar donated $2,630 to Democratic candidates and organizations. He served as a Democratic member of the Maine State Legislature from 1996 to 1999. Jabar was a registered Democrat prior to 2020. He was appointed by Gov. John Baldacci (D). Maine was a Democratic trifecta.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Jabar received a campaign finance score of -0.97, indicating a liberal ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Jabar received a campaign finance score of -0.97, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was less liberal than the average score of -1.01 that justices received in Maine.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[11]
State supreme court judicial selection in Maine
- See also: Judicial selection in Maine
The seven justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court are appointed by the governor with confirmation from the Maine State Senate.[12]
Justices serve for seven years after their appointment. To continue to serve on the court, they must be reappointed by the governor and reconfirmed by the Maine State Senate.[12]
Qualifications
State law requires that supreme court justices be "learned in the law."[13]
Chief justice
In Maine, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. The chief justice is appointed in the same manner as the other justices on the court.[12]
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 justice's term. The governor appoints a justice with confirmation by the Maine State Senate. The new appointee serves a seven-year term.[12]
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 State of Maine Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court Justices," accessed July 26, 2021 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "bio" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 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.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sea Coast Online, "Jabar nominated to Maine supreme court," August 4, 2009
- ↑ State of Maine, "Governor Announces Judicial Nominee," December 14, 2016
- ↑ TrackBill, "Maine SC39," accessed September 24, 2021
- ↑ Maine Legislature, "118th Legislature," accessed July 26, 2021
- ↑ Maine Legislature, "119th Legislature," accessed July 26, 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Maine," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ Maine Legislature, "Title 4: Judiciary, Chapter 1: Supreme Judicial Court - §1. Constitution of the court; administrative responsibilities of the court and the Chief Justice," accessed April 3, 2023
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Maine • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Maine
State courts:
Maine Supreme Judicial Court • Maine Superior Court • Maine Business and Consumer Court • Maine District Courts • Maine Family Division • Maine Juvenile Court • Maine Probate Courts • Maine Small Claims Court • Maine Treatment Court
State resources:
Courts in Maine • Maine judicial elections • Judicial selection in Maine
