Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission
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| Methods of judicial selection |
| Partisan elections |
| Nonpartisan elections |
| Michigan method |
| Retention elections |
| Assisted appointment |
| Bar-controlled commission |
| Governor-controlled commission |
| Hybrid commission |
| Legislative elections |
| Gubernatorial appointment |
The Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission is an independent state commission in Oklahoma established by the Question 447 in July 1967 that plays a role in the state's judicial selection process. It was further modified by Question 752 in 2010. The commission has 15 members, selected by the governor, the Oklahoma Bar Association, and state legislative leaders.[1]
Oklahoma uses the assisted appointment method of judicial selection for its appellate courts. Using this method, the governor appoints state judges from a list of names submitted by the commission.
The commission is a hybrid commission, which means that there is no majority of members chosen by either the governor or the state Bar association. As of October 5, 2025, 11 states used this type of commission. To learn more about controlling majorities in judicial selection commissions, click here.
Members
Last updated: April 2025
The commission has 15 members. Nine of the members are non-lawyers. Of those, six are appointed by the governor, one from each congressional district, to serve staggered six-year terms. No more than three of these appointments can be members of the same political party. Three additional non-lawyer members are appointed to two-year terms. One is appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate, one by the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and the final member by the other 14 members of the commission.[1][2]
The other six members of the commission are lawyers. One each is selected from each of the state's congressional districts by the members of the Bar association of each district. These members serve staggered six-year terms.[1]
The constitution imposes the following limitations on commissioners: Sitting commissioners may not hold any other public office or position within a political party, they are not eligible while serving, or for five years after, to be nominated as a judge, and they may not succeed themselves.[1]
| Members of the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission, April 2025 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | District | Appointed by | Term-end date |
| Aaron Abbott | District 1 | Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) | October 5, 2025 |
| Matt Hendrix | District 2 | Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) | October 5, 2025 |
| Michael Daniel | District 3 | Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) | October 5, 2027 |
| Timothy Lashar | District 4 | Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) | October 5, 2029 |
| William Schonacher | District 5 | Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) | October 6, 2027 |
| Rob Cummins | District 6 | Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) | October 5, 2029 |
| Lori Few | At-Large | Commission | October 5, 2025 |
| Jeremy Bailey | At-Large | President Pro Tem of the Senate | September 25, 2025 |
| Cliff Agee | At-Large | Speaker of the House of Representatives | September 15, 2025 |
| Mary Quinn Cooper | District 1 | Bar Association | October 5, 2029 |
| Weldon Strout | District 2 | Bar Association | October 5, 2029 |
| James Bland | District 3 | Bar Association | October 5, 2025 |
| David Butler | District 4 | Bar Association | October 5, 2025 |
| Joel Hall | District 5 | Bar Association | October 5, 2027 |
| David Petty | District 6 | Bar Association | October 5, 2027 |
Process
On its website, the commission lays out the following steps for filling a judicial vacancy:[1]
- The governor informs the commission's chair of the vacancy.
- The commission advertises the vacancy and solicits applications. If the commission receives fewer than three applications for a vacancy, it must re-advertise the vacancy until it reaches that threshold.
- If only three applications are received and all of them are legally qualified, those three names are submitted to the governor for consideration.
- If more than three applications are received, the commission solicits public comments on the applicants and publicly interviews the applicants.
- Following the interviews and public comments, the commission meets and selects three nominees to submit to the governor for consideration.
- The governor has 60 days to make an appointment from the list provided by the commission. If the appointment is not made, the Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court makes the appointment.
Duties
As of April 2025, the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission website did not list specific duties for members of the commission.
Control of judicial selection commissions
Assisted appointment is a method of judicial selection in which a nominating commission reviews the qualifications of judicial candidates and submits a list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from the list.[3]
At the state supreme court level, this method is further divided into the following three types, based on the makeup of the judicial nominating commissions. Those types are:
- Governor-controlled commission - The governor is either responsible for appointing a majority of the members of the nominating commission or may decline to appoint a candidate from a list provided by the nominating commission.
- Bar-controlled commission - Members of the state Bar Association are responsible for electing a majority of the members of the nominating commission.
- Hybrid - There is no majority of members chosen by either the governor or the state Bar Association. The membership of these commissions is determined by different rules in each state.
Twenty-three courts in 22 states used assisted appointment to select state supreme court justices as of June 2021.[4][5] Oklahoma used a hybrid commission. The table below shows the number of courts using each variation of assisted appointment at the state supreme court level.
| Assisted appointment methods in state supreme courts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Courts (of 23) | ||
| Governor-controlled majority | 10 | ||
| Bar-controlled majority | 1 | ||
| Hybrid | 12 | ||
The map below highlights the states that use each of the three types of assisted appointment.
About judicial selection
Each state has a unique set of guidelines governing how they select judges at the state and local level. These methods of selection are:
Election
- Partisan election: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot alongside a label designating political party affiliation.
- Nonpartisan election: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot without a label designating party affiliation.
- Michigan method: State supreme court justices are selected through nonpartisan elections preceded by either partisan primaries or conventions.
- Retention election: A periodic process whereby voters are asked whether an incumbent judge should remain in office for another term. Judges are not selected for initial terms in office using this election method.
Assisted appointment
- Assisted appointment, also known as merit selection or the Missouri Plan: A nominating commission reviews the qualifications of judicial candidates and submits a list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from the list.[3] At the state supreme court level, this method is further divided into the following three types:
- Bar-controlled commission: Members of the state Bar Association are responsible for electing a majority of the judicial nominating commission that sends the governor a list of nominees that they must choose from.
- Governor-controlled commission: The governor is responsible for appointing a majority of the judicial nominating commission that sends the governor a list of nominees they must choose from.
- Hybrid commission: The judicial nominating commission has no majority of members chosen by either the governor or the state bar association. These commissions determine membership in a variety of ways, but no institution or organization has a clear majority control.
Direct appointment
- Court appointment: Judges are selected by judges in the state judiciary.
- Gubernatorial appointment: Judges are appointed by the governor. In some cases, approval from the legislative body is required.
- Legislative election: Judges are selected by the state legislature.
- Municipal government selection: Judges are selected by the governing body of their municipality.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Oklahoma State Courts Network, "RULES OF THE OKLAHOMA JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION," accessed November 17, 2021
- ↑ Oklahoma State Courts Network, "Commission Members," accessed April 25, 2023
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 American Bar Association, "Judicial Selection: The Process of Choosing Judges," June 2008 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "ambaroverview" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ As of June 2021, Oklahoma had two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.
- ↑ North Dakota uses this method only for vacancies.
Federal courts:
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Oklahoma, Northern District of Oklahoma, Western District of Oklahoma • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Oklahoma, Northern District of Oklahoma, Western District of Oklahoma
State courts:
Oklahoma Supreme Court • Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals • Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals • Oklahoma District Courts • Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Court of Existing Claims
State resources:
Courts in Oklahoma • Oklahoma judicial elections • Judicial selection in Oklahoma
