Karen L. Valihura
2014 - Present
2026
11
Karen L. Valihura is a judge of the Delaware Supreme Court. She assumed office on July 25, 2014. Her current term ends on July 25, 2026.
Valihura was nominated by Governor Jack Markell (D) on June 6, 2014, and unanimously confirmed by the Delaware State Senate on June 25. She replaced Justice Jack Jacobs on the court.[1][2] To read more about judicial selection in Delaware, 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] Valihura received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Valihura received her undergraduate degree from Washington & Jefferson College in 1985 and her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1988.[5] She clerked for the Honorable Robert Cowen of the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit from 1988 to 1989, and worked as an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP from 1989 until being appointed to the Delaware Supreme Court in 2014.[1][5]
Appointments
2014
Valihura was nominated to the Delaware Supreme Court by Governor Jack Markell (D) on June 6, 2014, and unanimously confirmed by the Delaware State Senate on June 25. She replaced Justice Jack Jacobs on the court.[1] In response to the nomination, Valihura stated:
| “ | I am humbled by this great honor, and I wish to thank Governor Markell for having the faith in me to succeed retiring Justice Jack Jacobs who contributed greatly to making our Supreme Court a shining star among our nation’s courts. I also want to thank the members of the Judicial Nominating Commission, and its Chair, the former Chancellor William B. Chandler, III, for their consideration. Should I be lucky enough to be confirmed by the Delaware State Senate, I look forward to working hard to serve the citizens of this great State as part of one of the best state court systems in the nation.[1][6] | ” |
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.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- 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.
Karen
Valihura
Delaware
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Valihura was a registered Republican as of 2020. She donated $1,500 to Republican candidates and organizations. Valihura was appointed by Gov. Jack Markell (D) in 2014. At the time of her appointment, Delaware was a Democratic trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Delaware
- See also: Judicial selection in Delaware
The five justices on the Delaware Supreme Court are selected by an assisted appointment method, whereby a judicial nominating commission screens candidates and submits at least three names to the governor. The governor may decline to appoint someone from this list and instead request a supplemental list, but ultimately a name from one of these lists must be submitted to the Delaware Senate. The commission is made up of 12 members, eleven of which are appointed by the governor (including at least four lawyers and at least three non-lawyers). The president of the Delaware State Bar Association nominates the twelfth member, who is added to the commission with the governor's approval. The governor designates the commission's chairperson.[9]
Appointed justices serve for 12 years, at which point they must apply to the commission for reappointment.[10] The commission must recommend sitting judges for reappointment unless two-thirds or more of the committee object. Reappointed judges also serve 12-year terms.[10] Delaware is relatively unique in that appointees' initial terms are no shorter than their subsequent ones
Delaware's constitution requires that there be an even partisan balance on each state court. For courts with an even number of judges, this means that no more than half of the seats on the court may be held by judges who are members of the same political party. For courts with an odd number of judges (including the state supreme court), this means that no more than a bare majority of seats on the court may be held by members of the same party. For example, a court with five seats could not have any more than three judges who are members of the same party.[10]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must:
- be a state resident; and
- be learned in the law.[11]
Chief justice
The process for selecting a chief judge or justice for the supreme, superior, and chancery courts is identical to the process used to select associate judges. The governor chooses an appointee from a list compiled by the judicial nominating commission, and if the state Senate gives consent, the appointee will serve a 12-year term as chief.[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 with Senate approval. The new appointee serves a 12-year term.[9][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 1.3 News Delaware.gov, "Governor Markell Nominates Karen Valihura to Delaware Supreme Court," June 6, 2014
- ↑ News.Delaware.gov, "Governor’s Statement on Confirmation of Karen Valihura as new Delaware Supreme Court Justice," June 25, 2014
- ↑ 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 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, "Karen L. Valihura Profile," accessed June 9, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Delaware.gov, "Executive Order 16," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 The Delaware Code Online, "§ 3. Appointment of judges; terms of office; vacancies; political representation; confirmation of appointment.," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ The Delaware Code Online, "§ 2. Justices of Supreme Court and other State Judges; qualifications; residence; precedence.," accessed March 28, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
Federal courts:
Third Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Delaware • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Delaware
State courts:
Delaware Supreme Court • Superior Court of Delaware • Delaware Court of Chancery • Delaware Family Court • Delaware Court of Common Pleas • Delaware Justice of the Peace Courts • Delaware Alderman's Courts
State resources:
Courts in Delaware • Delaware judicial elections • Judicial selection in Delaware
