Michael K. Davis (Wyoming)
Michael K. Davis was a judge of the Wyoming Supreme Court. He assumed office on October 15, 2012. He left office on January 16, 2022.
Davis first became a member of the Wyoming Supreme Court when he was appointed by Gov. Matt Mead (R) on August 30, 2012, to succeed Michael Golden. Davis announced on September 7, 2021, that he would retire from the court effective January 16, 2022.[1][2] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.[3]
Davis became chief justice of the court on July 1, 2018. He served until 2021, when Kate M. Fox became chief justice.
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] Davis received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Davis received his bachelor's degree from Western State College of Colorado in 1977 and his J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1980.[6]
Before becoming a justice on the supreme court, Davis served as a judge on the First District Court in Laramie County, Wyoming. From 1980 to 2008, he was a partner at Yonkee and Toner. He has also been a judicial fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.[3]
Elections
2014
Davis was retained to the Wyoming Supreme Court with 77.5 percent of the vote on November 4, 2014. [7]
2012
Davis first became a member of the Wyoming Supreme Court when he was appointed by Gov. Matt Mead (R) on August 30, 2012 to succeed Michael Golden.[3]
2010
- See also: Wyoming judicial elections, 2010
Davis was retained to the First District Court in 2010.[8][9]
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.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- 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.
Michael
Davis
Wyoming
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Republican governor
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Davis was appointed by Gov. Matt Mead (R) in 2012. At the time of his appointment, Wyoming was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Wyoming
- See also: Judicial selection in Wyoming
The five justices of the Wyoming Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. When a vacancy occurs, the governor appoints a replacement from a list of three names provided by a nominating commission. There are seven members on the commission. Three members must be lawyers appointed by the state bar and three must be non-lawyers appointed by the governor. The chief justice of the supreme court serves as chairman and only votes in the event of a tie. The governor must appoint a person from the commission's list.[12][13]
Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they must stand for retention in the next general election. If retained, a judge will finish the remainder of his or her predecessor's unexpired term. Subsequent terms last eight years.[14][15]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least three years;
- at least nine years legal experience;
- no younger than 30 years old; and
- no older than 70.*[14]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by peer vote, serving in that capacity for four years.[12]
Vacancies
When a vacancy occurs, the governor appoints a replacement from a list of three names provided by a nominating commission. After the appointed justice has served at least one year, they must stand for retention in the next general election. If retained, a judge will finish the remainder of his or her predecessor's unexpired term. Subsequent terms last eight years.[12]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Washington Courts, "Judicial nominating commission announce Supreme Court vacancy," September 7, 2021
- ↑ Wyoming Supreme Court News Release, "Judicial nominating commission announces supreme court vacancy," September 7, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Trib.com, "Gov. Mead appoints Wyoming Supreme Court justice," August 30, 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.
- ↑ Wyoming Judicial Branch, "Justice Michael K. Davis," archived August 19, 2016
- ↑ Wyoming Secretary of State, "2014 Judges Standing For Retention," June 18, 2014
- ↑ Wyoming Secretary of State, "Statewide Judicial Retention Results," accessed December 4, 2014
- ↑ Wyoming Secretary of State, "2010 Judges Standing for Retention," accessed December 4, 2014
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Wyoming Judicial Branch, About the Supreme Court, accessed April 17, 2025
- ↑ Wyoming Judicial Branch, "Judicial Nominating Commission," accessed April 17, 2025
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Wyoming," accessed August 11, 2021
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Wyoming," archived January 13, 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
