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William Cohen
2020 - Present
2029
4
William Cohen is a judge of the Vermont Supreme Court. He assumed office on December 19, 2020. His current term ends on March 31, 2029.
Cohen first became a member of the Vermont Supreme Court when he was nominated by Gov. Phil Scott (R) on December 5, 2019, to replace Marilyn Skoglund. To read more about judicial selection in Vermont, click here.[1] To learn more about this appointment, 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] Cohen received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Cohen earned a B.A. in environmental science from George Washington University in 1980 and a J.D. from Vermont Law School in 1984. Before serving on the supreme court, Cohen was a superior court judge in Rutland County, Vermont, from 1999 to 2019. From 1986 to 1999, he worked as an attorney in private practice. He also worked as a deputy state's attorney in Rutland County from 1984 to 1986.[4][5]
Elections
2023
Cohen was retained by the Vermont General Assembly on March 28, 2023 for a six-year term.[6]
Appointments
2019
Vermont Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Skoglund retired on September 1, 2019.[7] Gov. Phil Scott (R) nominated Judge William "Bill" Cohen to succeed Skoglund on December 5, 2019.[8]
Cohen was Gov. Phil Scott's (R) second nominee to the five-member supreme court.
Under Vermont law, the governor appointed state supreme court justices from a list of names provided by a judicial nominating commission. The appointed justice had to be confirmed by the Vermont State Senate.
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.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- 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.
William
Cohen
Vermont
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Republican
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
Partisan Profile
Details:
Cohen worked for Senator Robert Stafford (R). He donated $100 to Democratic candidates. He was appointed by Gov. Phil Scott (R) in 2019.
State supreme court judicial selection in Vermont
- See also: Judicial selection in Vermont
The five justices of the Vermont Supreme Court are selected through assisted appointment. The governor selects a nominee from a list of recommended candidates from a judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by the Vermont Senate.[11] Once confirmed, appointees serve six-year terms. At the end of each term, judges face retention by a vote of the Vermont General Assembly.[11]
Qualifications
To serve on the Vermont Supreme Court, a judge must:
- be a state resident; and
- have practiced law as an attorney or served as a judge in the state for at least 10 years, with five years preceding their application to the commission.
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is chosen through the same assisted appointment method as the other judges on the court and serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.[11]
Vacancies
When the state Senate is in session, midterm vacancies are filled by the same assisted appointment method otherwise used to select judges. If the Senate is not in session, the governor may choose to make an interim appointment until the Senate convenes and acts upon the appointment. The appointed justice will serve until the Senate consents to the appointment. If the appointment is confirmed, the appointee will serve a six-year term. If the appointment is not confirmed by the Senate, the judicial office will be vacated.[12] There is one current vacancy on the Vermont Supreme Court, out of the court's five judicial positions.
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Seven Days, "Scott Names William Cohen to Serve on Vermont Supreme Court," December 5, 2019
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Vermont Secretary of State, "Civil Government: State of Vermont," 2013
- ↑ Vermont Judiciary, "Family Division," accessed September 17, 2014
- ↑ VTdigger, "Several Vermont judges and all Supreme Court justices get more bench time," accessed September 26, 2023
- ↑ VT Digger, "Justice Skoglund stepping down from Vermont Supreme Court," May 1, 2019
- ↑ Seven Days, "Scott Names William Cohen to Serve on Vermont Supreme Court," December 5, 2019
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Vermont," accessed August 20, 2021
- ↑ Vermont General Assembly, "Judiciary Department - § 33. Interim judicial appointments," accessed April 18, 2023
Federal courts:
Second Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Vermont • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Vermont
State courts:
Vermont Supreme Court • Vermont Superior Courts • Vermont Probate Court • Vermont Judicial Bureau
State resources:
Courts in Vermont • Vermont judicial elections • Judicial selection in Vermont
