Laurie McKinnon
Laurie McKinnon is a judge of the Montana Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2013. Her current term ends on December 31, 2028.
McKinnon ran for re-election for judge of the Montana Supreme Court. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
McKinnon first became a member of the court through a nonpartisan election. She was elected to this position on November 6, 2012, effective in January 2013.[1][2][3] To read more about judicial selection in Montana, 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.[4] McKinnon received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
McKinnon received her undergraduate degree from Goucher College in 1982 and her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1986. She began her legal career as a law clerk for a Baltimore city circuit judge in 1986, and worked for the Baltimore City State Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 1991 and as an attorney in private practice from 1991 to 1995. McKinnon served as deputy Glacier County attorney from 1996 to 1997 and as deputy Teton County attorney from 2001 to 2006. She was a judge on Montana's 9th District Court from 2007 until being elected to the Montana Supreme Court in 2012.[6][1] McKinnon is a member of the District Court Performance Measurement Advisory Committee to the Montana Supreme Court and the Judicial Education Committee.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Montana Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Laurie McKinnon defeated Mike Black in the general election for Montana Supreme Court on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Laurie McKinnon (Nonpartisan) | 57.0 | 303,839 |
 | Mike Black (Nonpartisan)  | 43.0 | 229,232 | |
| Total votes: 533,071 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Laurie McKinnon and Mike Black defeated Mars Scott in the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Laurie McKinnon (Nonpartisan) | 53.3 | 169,546 |
| ✔ | | Mike Black (Nonpartisan) | 29.7 | 94,445 |
 | Mars Scott (Nonpartisan) | 17.0 | 54,036 | |
| Total votes: 318,027 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2012
- See also: Montana judicial elections, 2012
McKinnon was elected to the Montana Supreme Court after defeating Ed Sheehy in the general election on November 6, 2012. She replaced retiring Judge James Nelson (Montana).[7][8][3][2]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Laurie McKinnon 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.[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.
Laurie
McKinnon
Montana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
McKinnon received campaign donations from the Montana Growth Network which supports Republican candidates more frequently than Democrats.
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in Montana
- See also: Judicial selection in Montana
The seven justices on the Montana Supreme Court are selected through nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. When their terms expire, justices must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court. If unopposed, a justice must stand for a yes-no retention election.[11][12]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.[11]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected through a nonpartisan election to an eight-year term.[11]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor is responsible for appointing a new justice to the court. Once confirmed by the Montana state Senate, the justice will hold office until the next regular election. At that time, the appointed justice will be able to run for re-election or retention to complete the remainder of the unexpired 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 Choteau Acantha, "Judge McKinnon announces plansto file for state Supreme Court," January 11, 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Montana Secretary of State, "2012 Official General Election Results"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Associated Press, "Close elections in races for state offices," November 7, 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.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedart1 - ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Non-legislative primary candidates"
- ↑ The Great Falls Tribune, "Sheehy files for court seat," Feb. 10, 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.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed August 11, 2021
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Montana State Legislature, "The Constitution of the state of Montana," accessed August 11, 2021 (Article VII, part VII, section 8)
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Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
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