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Michael Vigil
This page is about the judge for the New Mexico Supreme Court. If you're looking for the page about the judge for the New Mexico First Judicial District Court, please see Michael Eugene Vigil.
2018 - Present
2030
6
Michael E. Vigil (Democratic Party) is a judge of the New Mexico Supreme Court. He assumed office on December 31, 2018. His current term ends on December 31, 2030.
Vigil ran for re-election for judge of the New Mexico Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
Vigil was elected by his peers as chief justice on July 15, 2020.[1] He was succeeded as chief justice by Shannon Bacon on April 13, 2022.[2]
Vigil first became a member of the court through a partisan election. He was elected to the court in November 2018. To read more about judicial selection in New Mexico, 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] Vigil received a confidence score of Strong Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Vigil previously served on the New Mexico Court of Appeals. He was appointed to the court by Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and sworn in on March 7, 2003. He was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2012.[5][6]
Biography
Vigil graduated from the College of Santa Fe in 1973 with a B.A. in political science. He received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1976.[7] From 1976 to 1979, he was a staff attorney for the Court of Appeals pre-hearing division. He then worked in private practice, litigating civil, criminal, and administrative cases.[8]
Elections
2022
See also: New Mexico Supreme Court elections, 2022
New Mexico Supreme Court
Michael E. Vigil was retained to the New Mexico Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 69.3% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
69.3
|
408,573 | ||
No |
30.7
|
180,965 | |||
Total Votes |
589,538 | ||||
|
|
2018
- See also: New Mexico Supreme Court elections, 2018
General election
Special general election for New Mexico Supreme Court
Michael E. Vigil defeated incumbent Gary L. Clingman in the special general election for New Mexico Supreme Court on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael E. Vigil (D) | 59.2 | 403,573 |
| Gary L. Clingman (R) | 40.8 | 278,502 | ||
| Total votes: 682,075 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = 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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2016
- See also: New Mexico judicial elections, 2016
Vigil was a finalist, along with Judith Nakamura (R), to be selected to fill a vacancy on the New Mexico Supreme Court. Gov. Susana Martinez (R) selected Nakamura.[9]
Vigil ran against Nakamura in the partisan election for the seat on November 8, 2016. She defeated Vigil, 52% to 48%.[10]
2012
- See also: New Mexico judicial elections, 2012
Vigil was retained to the New Mexico Court of Appeals with 73.5% of the vote in the general election on November 6, 2012.[6]
2004
Vigil was elected to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in 2004.[5]
2003
Gov. Bill Richardson (D) appointed Vigil to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in 2003.[8]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael E. Vigil did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 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.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- 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
Vigil
New Mexico
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Democrat
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Received donations from Democrat-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Vigil was a registered Democrat. He donated over $2,780 to Democratic candidates. He received $13,850 from the New Mexico Democratic Party and $100 from the Curry County Democratic Party.
State supreme court judicial selection in New Mexico
- See also: Judicial selection in New Mexico
The five justices of the New Mexico Supreme Court are chosen through partisan elections. After serving for one year, the appointed justice must win the first partisan general election after their appointment to serve the remainder of the unexpired term. Justices serve eight-year terms.[13] To serve additional terms, justices must receive at least 57% of the vote in a retention election.[13]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a person must:
- be at least 35 years old;
- have practiced law for ten years before assuming office; and
- have been a New Mexico resident for three years before assuming office.[14]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by a peer vote of the justices to serve a two-year term. The chief justice must have been elected to the court, not appointed to fill a vacancy.[15]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a justice from a list of qualified candidates recommended by a judicial nominating commission. The appointed judge will serve until the first general election held one year after their appointment. The appointee must run in that general election to serve the remainder of the unexpired term.[16]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun News, "Justice Michael E. Vigil becomes chief justice of New Mexico Supreme Court," July 16, 2020
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun News, "C. Shannon Bacon takes over as chief justice of New Mexico Supreme Court," April 14, 2022
- ↑ 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 New Mexico SOS, "2004 General Election Results," accessed July 29, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 New Mexico SOS, "2012 General Election Results," accessed July 29, 2021
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "State Supreme Court," accessed July 29, 2021
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Quay County Sun, "Michael Vigil named NM's chief justice," July 22, 2020
- ↑ Washington Times, "Candidates vie for secretary of state post after scandal," accessed February 3, 2016
- ↑ New Mexico SOS, "2016 General Election Results," November 8, 2016
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 New Mexico Secretary of State, "Constitution," accessed September 2, 2021 (Article VI Section 33) Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "nmconst33" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "Constitution," accessed September 2, 2021 (Article VI Section 8)
- ↑ NMOneSource.com, "Current New Mexico Statutes Annotated 1978," accessed September 2, 2021 (Chapter 34 Article 2)
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "Constitution," accessed March 29, 2024 (Article VI Section 35)
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