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Steven David (Indiana)
Steven David was a judge of the Indiana Supreme Court. He assumed office on October 18, 2010. He left office on August 31, 2022.
David first became a member of the court by appointment. He was appointed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2010 to replace Theodore R. Boehm, who retired.[1] David was retained by voters in 2012. He retired on June 10, 2022. To learn more about this vacancy, 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.[2] David received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
David received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Murray State University. He received his J.D. from the Indiana University Indianapolis Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1982. He also graduated from the Indiana Judicial College and the Graduate Program for Indiana Judges. David then served in the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps of the United States Army from 1982 to 1986. Once retired from active duty, he served in the Reserves until 2010.[4]
Prior to his appointment to the Indiana Supreme Court, David was a judge on the Boone County Circuit Court. He joined the circuit court in 1995. He also previously worked as an attorney and corporate counsel for Mayflower Transit.[1]
As of July 2021, David was co-chair of Indiana's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative and of the Program Committee for the Indiana State Bar Association's Leadership Development Academy. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of Indianapolis and the Robert H. McKinney School of Law and president of the Community Foundation of Boone County.[4]
Elections
2012
- See also: Indiana judicial elections, 2012
Justice David was retained in the 2012 election, winning 69.1% of the vote.[5]
During his campaign, he launched a website urging his retention. According to Dave Stafford of The Indiana Lawyer, "Appellate judges typically may not campaign for retention unless they face active opposition. Indiana Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathryn Dolan said David had received authorization to launch the website from the Judicial Qualifications Commission."[6]
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.
Steven
David
Indiana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
David donated $30 to Republican candidates and organizations. He was appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) in 2010.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, David received a campaign finance score of 0.65, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
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.
David received a campaign finance score of 0.65, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.01 that justices received in Indiana.
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.[9]
State supreme court judicial selection in Indiana
- See also: Judicial selection in Indiana
The five justices on the Indiana Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission is responsible for providing the names of three nominees to the governor, who must then select a justice from that list.[10][11] The commission is made up of six voting members from the three geographic districts covered by the Indiana Court of Appeals. Members include three attorneys, elected by attorneys in their respective geographic districts, and three non-attorneys, appointed by the governor. The chief justice or his or her designee serves as an ex officio member of the commission.[11]
Justices serve at least two years following their initial appointment. They must stand for retention at the first statewide general election to remain in office. If retained, justices serve a ten-year term and must stand for retention every ten years after that point to remain in office.[12]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- an Indiana resident;
- admitted to practice law in the state for at least 10 years or have served as a trial court judge for at least five years; and
- under the age of 75 (retirement at 75 is mandatory).[10]
Chief Justice
The chief justice is selected by the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission from the members of the supreme court and serves a five-year term.[11] In the event of a vacancy, the justice with the longest tenure on the supreme court serves as acting chief justice until the nominating commission fills the position.[11]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the position is filled as it normally would be had the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission provides the names of three nominees to the governor, who must then select a justice from that list.[10][11] The new appointee serves at least two years following his or her initial appointment and must stand for retention at the first statewide general election to remain in office.[12] The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Louisville Business First, "Steven David appointed Indiana Supreme Court justice," September 17, 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.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 IN.gov, "Hon Steven H David," accessed July 12, 2021
- ↑ Indiana Election Division, "Indiana General Election, November 6, 2012," archived October 19, 2014
- ↑ The Indiana Lawyer, "Justice David creates retention website," October 22, 2012
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 National Center for State Courts, "Method of Judicial Selection: Indiana," accessed Aug. 23, 2021
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 State of Indiana, "Judicial Nominating Commission Fact Sheet," accessed Aug. 23, 2021
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 State of Indiana, "About the Court," accessed Aug. 23, 2021
Federal courts:
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Indiana, Southern District of Indiana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Indiana, Southern District of Indiana
State courts:
Indiana Supreme Court • Indiana Court of Appeals • Indiana Tax Court • Indiana Superior Courts • Indiana Circuit Courts • Indiana City Courts • Indiana County Courts • Indiana Municipal Courts • Indiana Small Claims Courts • St. Joseph County Probate Court • Indiana Town Courts
State resources:
Courts in Indiana • Indiana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Indiana
