Michael Golden
Michael Golden was a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court. Golden was a member of the court from 1988, when he was appointed by former Governor Mike Sullivan, until 2012. Golden served as the chief justice of the court from 1994 to 1996. He was retained in 1990, 1998, and 2006. He retired on Sept. 30, 2012, due to reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.[1]
Education
Golden received his B.A. from the University of Wyoming in 1964, and his J.D. from the U.W. College of Law in 1967. Golden earned an LL.M. in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia in 1992.[2]
Military service
Golden served for four years in the Judge Advocate General Corps in the U.S. Army.[3]
Career
After retiring from the military, Golden spent his legal career in private practice. He was appointed to the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1988.[3]
Political ideology
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.
Golden received a campaign finance score of -0.39, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of 0.37 that justices received in Wyoming.
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.[4]
See also
- News: Supreme Weekly: Busy week for the courts, June 9, 2011
External links
- Wyoming Judicial Branch, Supreme Court Justices
- Project Vote Smart, Justice Michael Golden (WY)
- Billings Gazette, "Court invalidates felon's life sentences," June 29, 2010
Footnotes
- ↑ Wyoming Tribune Eagle, "Retiring Supreme Court justice reflects on career," June 25, 2012
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, Justice Michael Golden (WY)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wyoming Judicial Branch, Wyoming Supreme Court Justices (dead link)
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
Federal courts:
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Wyoming • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Wyoming
State courts:
Wyoming Supreme Court • Wyoming District Courts • Wyoming Circuit Courts • Wyoming Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Wyoming • Wyoming judicial elections • Judicial selection in Wyoming
