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Josiah Coleman
2013 - Present
2028
12
Josiah Coleman (also known as Dennis) is a judge for District 3-Position 3 of the Mississippi Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 7, 2013. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Coleman ran for re-election for the District 3-Position 3 judge of the Mississippi Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Coleman first became a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court through a nonpartisan election. To read more about judicial selection in Mississippi, 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.[1] Coleman received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Coleman received his bachelor's degree in history and philosophy from the University of Mississippi in 1995. He also earned his J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1999.[3]
After graduating from law school, Coleman worked at several law firms, including Holland Ray Upchurch & Hillen, Dunbar Davis, and Hickman Goza & Spragins. In 2020, Coleman received an LL.M. in judicial studies from Duke University School of Law.[3]
Elections
2020
See also: Mississippi Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Mississippi Supreme Court District 3 Position 3
Incumbent Josiah Coleman defeated Percy L. Lynchard Jr. in the general election for Mississippi Supreme Court District 3 Position 3 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Josiah Coleman (Nonpartisan) | 63.4 | 236,130 |
 | Percy L. Lynchard Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 36.6 | 136,164 | |
| Total votes: 372,294 | |||
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2012
- See also: Mississippi judicial elections, 2012
Coleman was elected to the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2012. He defeated Richard T. Phillips in the general election with 58% of the vote.[4][5]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Josiah Coleman 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.[6]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[7]
- 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.
Josiah
Coleman
Mississippi
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Endorsed by Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
- State was a Republican trifecta
Partisan Profile
Details:
Coleman was endorsed by individuals and organizations that regularly endorse Republicans, including the Mississippi Republican Party. Mississippi was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Mississippi
- See also: Judicial selection in Mississippi
The nine justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court are elected to eight-year terms in nonpartisan elections. All candidates must run in the general election (as Mississippi holds no primary for judicial candidates) and must face re-election if they wish to serve again.[8] For more information about these elections, visit the Mississippi judicial elections page.
Unlike most states, supreme court justices in Mississippi are elected to represent specific districts. The nine justices are divided among three supreme court districts (not to be confused with the 22 divisions of the circuit courts) and are voted into office by the residents of their respective regions.[9] Only the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and Louisiana use a similar system.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a qualified elector for and from the district in which election is sought;
- a minimum of 30 years old;
- a practicing attorney; and
- a state citizen for at least five years.[8]
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is selected by seniority. He or she serves until retirement when the justice with the next most judicial experience becomes chief.[8]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, a temporary judge is named by the governor. Appointees serve out the remainder of their predecessor's unexpired term if four or fewer years of the term remain. If there are more than four years remaining, the appointee will run in the next general election, taking place nine months or more after the vacancy occurs. The winner of the election will serve the remainder of the term.[10]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
|
Officeholder Mississippi Supreme Court District 3 Position 3 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 LinkedIn, "Josiah Coleman," accessed July 26, 2021
- ↑ The Mississippi Press, "Newcomer Josiah Coleman wins seat on Mississippi Supreme Court," November 7, 2012
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Certified election results," accessed December 28, 2012
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 7, 2021
- ↑ State of Mississippi Judiciary, "Supreme Court," accessed September 7, 2021
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 7, 2021
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Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Mississippi, Southern District of Mississippi • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Mississippi, Southern District of Mississippi
State courts:
Mississippi Supreme Court • Mississippi Court of Appeals • Mississippi circuit courts • Mississippi Chancery Court • Mississippi county courts • Mississippi justice courts • Mississippi youth courts • Mississippi Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Mississippi • Mississippi judicial elections • Judicial selection in Mississippi
