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South Dakota Supreme Court justice vacancy (January 2021)
| South Dakota Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Gilbertson vacancy |
| Date: January 5, 2021 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Scott P. Myren |
| Date: October 28, 2020 |
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) appointed Scott P. Myren to the South Dakota Supreme Court on October 28, 2020. Myren joined the court in early January 2021 when Chief Justice David Gilbertson reached mandatory retirement at the age of 70 years old.[1][2] Myren was Noem's second nominee to the five-member supreme court.
At the time of the vacancy, state supreme court justices were appointed by the governor with help from a state judicial qualifications commission.
The appointee
- See also: Scott P. Myren
Before his appointment to the state supreme court, Myren was a judge on the Fifth Judicial Circuit for South Dakota. He took the bench in 2004. On September 26, 2013, he was appointed presiding judge, effective January 2014. In this function, he replaced retiring Judge Jack R. Von Wald.[3][4]
Before becoming a judge, Myren was a staff attorney for the South Dakota Supreme Court, an attorney in private practice in Denver, Colorado, an administrative law judge, and a magistrate for the South Dakota Sixth Judicial Circuit.[4]
Myren earned his undergraduate degree from the University of South Dakota in 1985 and his J.D. from Rutgers University in 1988.[1]
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in South Dakota
At the time of the vacancy, the five South Dakota Supreme Court justices were appointed by the governor from a list of at least two names provided by the South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Commission. Newly appointed judges would serve for at least three years, after which they had to run in a yes-no retention election during a regularly scheduled general election. Subsequent terms would last eight years.[5]
South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Commission
The South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Commission was created by the South Dakota Constitution. The commission would investigate applicants for state supreme court vacancies and recommend at least two applicants to the governor. The commission also would investigate judicial complaints, including recommending judges for censure or removal from office.[6]
The commission contained seven members:
- two circuit court judges elected by the judicial conference,
- three attorneys chosen by a majority of state bar commissioners, and
- two members of the public selected by the governor.
No more than two of the attorneys could be from the same political party. The members of the public could not be from the same political party. Commissioners would serve for four years with a limit of two terms.[6]
Makeup of the court
- See also: South Dakota Supreme Court
Following Gilbertson's retirement, the South Dakota Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Janine M. Kern | Appointed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) in 2014 | |
| ■ Steven Jensen | Appointed by Gov. Daugaard in 2017 | |
| ■ Mark Salter | Appointed by Gov. Daugaard in 2018 | |
| ■ Patricia DeVaney | Appointed by Gov. Kristi Noem (R) in 2019 |
About Chief Justice Gilbertson
- See also: David Gilbertson
Gilbertson joined the South Dakota Supreme Court in 1995 after being appointed by Gov. Bill Janklow (R). In 2001, Gilbertson was elected by his peers to serve a four-year term as chief justice of the court. He was re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017. He was the first chief justice in state history to be elected to a fourth and fifth term as chief.
Before joining the state supreme court in 1995, Gilbertson was a circuit judge of the South Dakota Fifth Judicial Circuit. He was appointed to this court by Gov. Janklow is 1986. Gilbertson previously worked in private practice and as a Roberts County deputy state's attorney and city attorney for Sisseton, South Dakota.
Gilbertson received his undergraduate degree from South Dakota State University in 1972 and his J.D. from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1975.
Political ideology
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.
Gilbertson received a campaign finance score of 1.13, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 1.05 that justices received in South Dakota.
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.[7]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2021
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2021
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2021. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2020.
See also
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- South Dakota Unified Judicial System
- South Dakota Supreme Court justices
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 KEVN, "Gov. Kristi Noem to appoint Judge Scott Myren to South Dakota Supreme Court," October 28, 2020
- ↑ Capital Journal, "Chief Justice Gilbertson to retire, by law, Jan. 5 2021," January 8, 2020
- ↑ South Dakota Unified Judicial System, "Fifth Circuit judges," accessed May 17, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 AberdeenNews.com, "Presiding judge named," September 26, 2013
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: South Dakota," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 State Bar of South Dakota, "Court Information," accessed June 22, 2020
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of South Dakota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of South Dakota
State courts:
South Dakota Supreme Court • South Dakota Circuit Courts • South Dakota Magistrate Courts
State resources:
Courts in South Dakota • South Dakota judicial elections • Judicial selection in South Dakota
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