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Tennessee Supreme Court justice vacancy (August 2024)
| Tennessee Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Page vacancy |
| Date: August 31, 2024 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Mary L. Wagner |
| Date: February 1, 2024 |
On February 1, 2024, Governor Bill Lee nominated Mary L. Wagner to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court. Wagner's nomination was confirmed by the Tennessee House of Representatives and Tennessee State Senate in a joint session on March 11, 2024.[1] Wagner replaces Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger A. Page, who retired on August 31, 2024.[2] Page's replacement will be Governor Lee's (R) third nominee to the five-member supreme court.
In Tennessee, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the governor. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the governor appoints a replacement justice from a list from a judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by both chambers of the state legislature. If filling an interim vacancy, the appointee stands for retention in the next general election at least 30 days after the vacancy occurred. The retained judge serves out the remainder of the unexpired term before again running for retention to serve a full eight-year term.[3][4] Judges are voted upon by the voters of the whole state.[5]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources on the process to fill the Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy:
- An overview of the appointee.
- A list of finalists recommended to the governor.
- A list of candidates who applied to the vacancy.
- An overview of the selection process.
- An overview of the court following the vacancy.
- An overview of the justice who left office.
- A list of other state supreme court appointments in 2024.
The appointee
- See also: Mary L. Wagner
On February 1, 2024, Governor Bill Lee nominated Wagner to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court. Wagner's nomination was confirmed by the Tennessee House of Representatives and Tennessee State Senate in a joint session on March 11, 2024.[1][6]
From 2011 until her judicial appointment in the Thirtieth Circuit Court Tennessee, Wagner worked at the firm of Rice, Amundsen & Caperton. She had previously worked at as a teacher at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis (2012–2014); as a lawyer at the firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley and Napolitan (2010–2011); as a law clerk for Judge J. Steven Stafford (2009–2010); and as an extern at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee.[7]
Appointee candidates and nominations
Finalists
On January 5, 2024, the Tennessee Governor's Council for Judicial Appointments announced three finalists for the upcoming vacancy. The list will be sent to Governor Bill Lee (R), who will nominate one of the candidates to the justiceship. The finalists were:[8]
- Court of Criminal Appeals judge J. Ross Dyer
- Court of Criminal Appeals judge Camille McMullen
- Thirtieth Circuit Court judge Mary L. Wagner[9]
Applicants
On December 11, 2023, the Tennessee Governor's Council for Judicial Appointments released a list of the six applicants that applied for the upcoming vacancy. The applicants were:[10]
- Chancery Court judge Tony A. Childress
- Court of Criminal Appeals judge J. Ross Dyer
- General Sessions and Juvenile Court judge Van D. McMahan
- Court of Criminal Appeals judge Camille McMullen
- Attorney Jeffrey C. Smith
- Thirtieth Circuit Court judge Mary L. Wagner[11]
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in Tennessee
In Tennessee, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the governor. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
Makeup of the court
- See also: Tennessee Supreme Court
Justices
Following Page's retirement, the Tennessee Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Dwight Tarwater | Appointed by Gov. Bill Lee (R) in 2023 | |
| ■ Jeff Bivins | Appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam (R) in 2014, and retained since | |
| ■ Sarah Campbell | Appointed by Gov. Bill Lee (R) in 2022, and retained since | |
| ■ Holly Kirby | Appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam (R) in 2013, and retained since |
About the court
Founded in 1870, the Tennessee Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has five judgeships. The current chief of the court is Holly Kirby. In 2018, the court decided 1,003 cases.
As of September 2024, five judges on the court were appointed by a Republican governor.
The Tennessee Supreme Court meets in Jackson, Knoxville, and Nashville, Tennessee.[12]
In Tennessee, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the governor. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
About Justice Page
- See also: Roger A. Page
Page received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in 1978 and his J.D. from the University of Memphis in 1984.[13] He clerked for Judge Julia Smith Gibbons of the Western District of Tennessee from 1984 to 1985. Page was an attorney in private practice from 1985 until he became assistant attorney general of Tennessee in 1992. Page served as assistant attorney general until 1998 when he became a judge on the Twenty-Sixth Circuit Court where he served until 2011.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag[13] Page was retained by voters in 2014 for a term that would have expired in 2022.[14] In 2016 he joined the Tennessee Supreme Court.[13][15] Page held memberships in the Edmund Howell Jackson American Inn of Court, Tennessee Bar Association, and the Jackson-Madison County Bar Association.[15]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2024
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2024
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2024. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2023.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Office of the Governor, "Justice Page Announces August 2024 Retirement," November 20, 2023
- ↑ Tennessee Courts, "Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger Page to retire in 2024," November 20, 2023
- ↑ Lexis Nexis, "Tennessee Code Annotated § 17-4-101," accessed April 25, 2024
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedTNgeneral - ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Tennessee," accessed August 5, 2016
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Tennessee General Assembly confirms Mary Wagner to state Supreme Court," March 11, 2024
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedappointment - ↑ Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Three finalists named for upcoming Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy," accessed January 5, 2024
- ↑ Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name
- ↑ Tennessee Courts, "Six Apply For Upcoming Tennessee Supreme Court Vacancy," December 11, 2023
- ↑ Tennessee State Courts, "About the Supreme Court," accessed August 20, 2021
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Tennessee State Courts, "Roger A. Page," accessed February 25, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedretention - ↑ 15.0 15.1 Tennessee State Courts, "2014 Judicial Evaluation Report for Judge Roger A. Page," accessed May 26, 2014
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Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee
State courts:
Tennessee Supreme Court • Tennessee Court of Appeals • Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals • Tennessee Circuit Court • Tennessee Chancery Courts • Tennessee Criminal Court • Tennessee Probate Court • Tennessee General Sessions Court • Tennessee Juvenile Court • Tennessee Municipal Court
State resources:
Courts in Tennessee • Tennessee judicial elections • Judicial selection in Tennessee
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