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Robert Brutinel
Robert Brutinel was a judge of the Arizona Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2010. He left office on October 31, 2024.
Brutinel ran for re-election for judge of the Arizona Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Brutinel was elected by his peers to succeed Scott Bales as chief justice of the court. He became chief justice July 1, 2019.[1]
Brutinel first became a member of the court by appointment, Governor Jan Brewer (R) appointed Brutinel in 2010 to succeed Michael D. Ryan, who retired.[2] To read more about judicial selection in Arizona, 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] Brutinel received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Brutinel earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Arizona State University in 1979. In 1982, he received his J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law. He received a Master of Laws degree in judicial studies from Duke University in 2018.[5]
Brutinel was a founding partner of Lockwood & Brutinel and Brutinel & Jones. He was a judge on the Yavapai County Superior Court from 1996 to 2010, and he served as presiding judge from 2004 to 2010, when he was appointed to the state supreme court. Brutinel's other experience includes serving as president of the Arizona Judges’ Association executive committee and chairing the Juvenile Dependency Advisory Commission.[5]
Elections
2020
Arizona Supreme Court
Robert Brutinel was retained to the Arizona Supreme Court on November 3, 2020 with 75.1% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
75.1
|
1,865,552 | ||
No |
24.9
|
617,429 | |||
Total Votes |
2,482,981 | ||||
|
|
2014
- See also: Arizona judicial elections, 2014
Brutinel was retained to the Arizona Supreme Court with 73.4 percent of the vote on November 4, 2014.[6]
Evaluation
The Judicial Performance Review Commission provides Arizona voters with an evaluation of each judge up for retention. The commission votes on whether a candidate meets or does not meet the JPR standards. Each judge is assessed in the categories of legal ability, integrity, communication skills, judicial temperament, and administrative performance.[7]
All members of the commission voted that Brutinel met the JPR standards.[8]
2010
- See also: Arizona judicial elections, 2010
Bruntinel was re-elected to the Yavapai County Superior Court after running unopposed.[9]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Robert Brutinel did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 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.[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.
Robert
Brutinel
Arizona
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Brutinel was appointed to the court by Gov. Jan Brewer (R). When he was appointed to the court, Arizona was a Republican trifecta. He was a registered Republican prior to 2020. He donated $1,200 to Republican candidates and organizations.
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.
Brutinel received a campaign finance score of 1.04, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.1 that justices received in Arizona.
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.[12]
Noteworthy cases
Court rules Department of Economic Security does not have final say in family reunification (2014)
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that juvenile court judges cannot rely upon the opinion of only DES caseworkers when considering whether to return children to parents once they have been removed from the home. Judge Brutinel wrote for the unanimous court, stating that while DES does have the power to place a removed child with a parent, it cannot place such a child with an abusive or neglectful one.
Articles:
State supreme court judicial selection in Arizona
- See also: Judicial selection in Arizona
The seven justices on the Arizona Supreme Court are each appointed by the governor from a list of names compiled by the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. The commission is composed of 16 members who serve staggered four-year terms. The membership includes 10 non-attorneys, five attorneys, and the chief justice of the supreme court, who chairs the commission.[13]
The initial term of a new justice is at least two years, after which the justice stands for retention in an uncontested yes-no election. Subsequent terms last six years.[14] For more information on these retention elections, visit the Arizona judicial elections page.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a justice:[15]
| “ |
|
” |
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is selected by peer vote. He or she serves in that capacity for five years.[17]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. Potential justices submit applications to the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, and once the commission has chosen a slate of nominees, the governor picks one from that list. After occupying the seat for two years, the newly appointed justice stands for retention in the next general election. The justice then serves a full six-year term if he or she is retained by voters.[18]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Associated Press, "Robert Brutinel elected as next Arizona Supreme Court chief justice," updated November 21, 2018
- ↑ East Valley Tribune, "Brewer names Yavapai County trial judge to state Supreme Court," updated November 23, 2010
- ↑ 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 Arizona Courts, "Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2014 General Election," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review, "Judicial Performance Standards," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review, "Judicial Reports, 2014," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ Yavapai County, "Election Summary Report," accessed June 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Article 6, Section 36: Commission on appellate court appointments and terms, appointments and vacancies on commission," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Article 6, Section 37: Judicial vacancies and appointments; initial terms; residence; age," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "AZ Supreme Court," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Meet The Justices," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
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Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Arizona • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Arizona
State courts:
Arizona Supreme Court • Arizona Court of Appeals • Arizona Superior Court • Arizona Justice Courts • Arizona Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Arizona • Arizona judicial elections • Judicial selection in Arizona
