Patrick Donovan (New Hampshire)
2018 - Present
2034
7
Patrick E. Donovan is a judge of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He assumed office on May 8, 2018. His current term ends on May 8, 2034.
Donovan was nominated to the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on March 21, 2018, to succeed Justice Linda Dalianis. He was unanimously confirmed to the court by the New Hampshire Executive Council in a vote on April 11, 2018.[1][2][3] To read more about judicial selection in New Hampshire, 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] Donovan received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Donovan was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a bachelor's degree in government and English from Dartmouth College in 1986 and a J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1990. After graduating, he clerked at the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Prior to joining the supreme court, Donovan's professional experience included working as an assistant attorney general with the New Hampshire Department of Justice, serving as counsel to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and working as a private attorney.[6]
Appointments
New Hampshire Supreme Court (2018)
Donovan was nominated to the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on March 21, 2018, to succeed Justice Linda Dalianis. He was unanimously confirmed to the court by the New Hampshire Executive Council in a vote on April 11, 2018, and sworn in on May 8, 2018. Donovan's term will end on May 8, 2034, when he will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.[1][2][3]
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.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- 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.
Patrick
Donovan
New Hampshire
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Worked on a campaign for a Republican candidate
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Donovan worked on a Republican political campaign in 1986. He donated $3,750 to Republican candidates. He was appointed by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) in 2018. At the time of his appointment, New Hampshire was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in New Hampshire
- See also: Judicial selection in New Hampshire
The five justices on the New Hampshire Supreme Court are selected by gubernatorial appointment. The governor's nominee must be confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council.[9][10] The five members of the executive council are chosen every two years in partisan elections.[11] As of April 2023, it had been customary since 2000 for the governor to establish a judicial selection commission by executive order to seek out, evaluate, and recommend candidates for nomination.[12][13]
Justices may serve on the court until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70.[14]
Qualifications
State law does not stipulate any particular qualifications for appointment to the supreme court.[15]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by gubernatorial appointment. The position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court rather than a temporary leadership position.[16][15]
Vacancies
Vacancies on the court are filled through gubernatorial appointment. A judicial selection commission recommends candidates to the governor, the governor selects a candidate, and the candidate must be confirmed by the Executive Council.[15] There is one current vacancy on the New Hampshire Supreme Court, out of the court's five judicial positions. The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Officeholder New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, "Governor Chris Sununu to Nominate Patrick E. Donovan as Next Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court," March 20, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 NHPR, "Donovan Sworn In As N.H. Supreme Court Justice," May 8, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 New Hampshire Secretary of State, "State Government," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court - Associate Justice Patrick E. Donovan," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "About the Supreme Court," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ NH.gov, "State Constitution - Executive Power - Governor," accessed August 24, 2021 (Article 46)
- ↑ State of New Hampshire Executive Council, "About Us," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Judicial Selection in the States: New Hampshire | Overview," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "Executive order 2000-9: An order establishing a Judicial Selection Commission," June 30, 2000
- ↑ The General Court of New Hampshire, "New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Title LI," accessed August 24, 2021 (Section 493:2)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New Hampshire | Selection of Judges," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ While a 2001 law amended Section 490:1 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes to make the chief justice position a rotating position based on seniority, the New Hampshire Supreme Court found this law to be unconstitutional in 2004.
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Hampshire • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Hampshire
State courts:
New Hampshire Supreme Court • New Hampshire Superior Courts • New Hampshire Circuit Courts • New Hampshire Probate Courts • New Hampshire District Court • New Hampshire Family Division
State resources:
Courts in New Hampshire • New Hampshire judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Hampshire
