Paul Suttell
2009 - Present
16
Paul Suttell is the Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. He assumed office on July 16, 2009.
In Rhode Island, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) nominated Suttell on June 22, 2009, to replace retiring Chief Justice Frank Williams.[1] The Rhode Island State Senate confirmed Suttell on June 25, 2009.[2]
Suttell first became a member of the court through a gubernatorial appointment. He was appointed to the court as an associate justice in 2003.[2] The justices on the Rhode Island Supreme Court hold office for life. To read more about judicial selection in Rhode Island, 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] Suttell received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Before joining the state supreme court, Suttell was a judge on the Rhode Island Family Court. He was a Republican member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.[5]
Biography
Suttell was born on January 10, 1949.[6] He received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1971 and a law degree from Suffolk University in 1976. He began his legal career as an associate attorney in Pawtucket, R.I. before becoming legal counsel to the House Minority Leader in the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1979 to 1982.[5]
Suttell was elected as a Republican to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1982 and assumed office in 1983. He held the position until 1990.[5] Gov. Edward DiPrete (R) appointed Suttell to the Rhode Island Family Court in 1990 where he served until 2003 when Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) appointed him to the Rhode Island Supreme Court as an associate justice. In 2009, Carcieri appointed Suttell to serve as chief justice on the state supreme court.[5]
Elections
The section below details Suttell's judicial appointments and state legislative elections throughout his career.
Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (2009-present)
Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) nominated Suttell to become chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court on June 22, 2009, following the retirement of Chief Justice Frank Williams.[1] The Rhode Island State Senate confirmed Suttell on June 25, 2009, and he assumed office on July 16, 2009.[2][7]
Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (2003-2009)
Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) nominated Suttell as an associate justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court on July 9, 2003, following the death of Justice Victoria Lederberg.[5] Suttell assumed office in 2003 and left office in 2009 upon his elevation to the position of the court's chief justice.[5]
Rhode Island Family Court (1990-2003)
Gov. Edward DiPrete (R) nominated Suttell to the Rhode Island Family Court on July 9, 1990, and he assumed office the same year.[5] Suttell left the position upon his elevation to the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 2003.[5]
Rhode Island House of Representatives (1983-1990)
Suttell was first elected as a Republican member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1982. He assumed office in 1983 and held the position until his appointment to the Rhode Island Family Court in 1990.
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.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- 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.
Paul
Suttell
Rhode Island
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Republican
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Suttell was Deputy Minority Leader of the Rhode Island State House of Representatives from 1985 to 1990. He was a registered Republican during that time. He was appointed by Gov. Donald Carcieri (R).
Other Scores:
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
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.
Suttell received a campaign finance score of -0.39, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was less liberal than the average score of -0.50 that justices received in Rhode Island.
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.[10]
State supreme court judicial selection in Rhode Island
- See also: Judicial selection in Rhode Island
The five justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court are appointed by the governor with help from a nominating commission made up of nine members. Supreme court nominees must then be approved by a majority vote of both the state House and the state Senate.[11] Justices serve for life or until they retire.
Qualifications
To serve on the Rhode Island Supreme Court, a judge must be:
- an attorney;
- licensed to practice law in the state; and
- a member of the state bar in good standing.[11]
Chief justice
The chief justice is chosen the same way as other justices are when appointed to the court. Like other judges, the chief justice serves in that capacity for life.[11]
Vacancies
Because Rhode Island judges serve for life or until they retire, the concept of a midterm vacancy has little relevance to the state's selection process. When a judge retires or passes away in office, the governor picks a nominee from a list from the judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by a majority vote in both chambers of the state legislature.[11]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Closing Argument, "Carcieri Nominates Justice Paul A. Suttell for Chief Justice," June 22, 2009
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Providence Journal, "Suttell confirmed as RI's chief justice," June 25, 2009
- ↑ 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 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Rhode Island Judiciary, "About the Supreme Court," accessed Aug. 3, 2021
- ↑ VoteSmart, "Paul Suttell's Biography," accessed Aug. 3, 2021
- ↑ Closing Argument, "Rhode Island’s 51st Chief Justice: Paul A. Suttell," July 16, 2009
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Rhode Island," archived October 3, 2014
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Rhode Island
State courts:
Rhode Island Supreme Court • Rhode Island Superior Court • Rhode Island District Court • Rhode Island Family Court • Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court • Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal
State resources:
Courts in Rhode Island • Rhode Island judicial elections • Judicial selection in Rhode Island
