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Latest revision as of 05:44, 9 November 2025
Gary E. Hicks was a judge of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 31, 2006. He left office on November 30, 2023.
He served on the court from 2005 to 2023. Hicks resigned on November 30, 2023 due to the age restrictions of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.[1] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Hicks was nominated as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. John Lynch (D) on December 21, 2005, to succeed Justice Joseph Nadeau.[2][3] He was sworn in on January 31, 2006.[4] To read more about judicial selection in New Hampshire, 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.[5] Hicks received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Hicks served as a judge on the New Hampshire Superior Court from 2001 to 2006.[2]
Biography
Hicks was born in West Stewartstown, New Hampshire. He received an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Bucknell University in 1975 and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1978. Hicks was a commercial litigator at Wiggin & Nourie from 1978 to 2001.[2][4]
Appointments
New Hampshire Supreme Court (2006-2023)
Hicks was nominated as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. John Lynch (D) on December 21, 2005, to succeed Justice Joseph Nadeau.[2][3] After his nomination was confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council, he was sworn in on January 31, 2006.[4] Hicks' term ended on November 30, 2023, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.[7]
Hicks served on the New Hampshire Supreme Court until his retirement on November 30, 2023. Hicks retired due to reaching New Hampshire's mandatory retirement age of 70.[8]
New Hampshire Superior Court (2001-2006)
Hicks was nominated to the New Hampshire Superior Court and was sworn into the court in October 2001.[2]
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.
Gary
Hicks
New Hampshire
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Was a registered Democrat
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Hicks donated $7,750 to Democratic candidates. He was a registered Democrat prior to 2020. He was nominated by Gov. John Lynch (D) in 2005.
Other Scores:
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.
Hicks received a campaign finance score of -1, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.99 that justices received in New Hampshire.
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.[11]
State supreme court judicial selection in New Hampshire
- See also: Judicial selection in New Hampshire
The five justices on the New Hampshire Supreme Court are selected by gubernatorial appointment. The governor's nominee must be confirmed by the New Hampshire Executive Council.[12][13] The five members of the executive council are chosen every two years in partisan elections.[14] As of April 2023, it had been customary since 2000 for the governor to establish a judicial selection commission by executive order to seek out, evaluate, and recommend candidates for nomination.[15][16]
Justices may serve on the court until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70.[17]
Qualifications
State law does not stipulate any particular qualifications for appointment to the supreme court.[18]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by gubernatorial appointment. The position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court rather than a temporary leadership position.[19][18]
Vacancies
Vacancies on the court are filled through gubernatorial appointment. A judicial selection commission recommends candidates to the governor, the governor selects a candidate, and the candidate must be confirmed by the Executive Council.[18] There is one current vacancy on the New Hampshire 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
- ↑ New Hampshire Bar Association, "Revered Supreme Court Justice Gary Hicks to Retire on November 30," accessed November 30, 2023
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Berlin Sun, "Gov. Lynch nominates North Country native to state Supreme Court," December 19, 2005
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 NH Business Review, "Hicks picked to replace Nadeau on top court," December 20, 2005
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court - Senior Associate Justice Gary E. Hicks," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "State Government," accessed July 11, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Bar Association, "Revered Supreme Court Justice Gary Hicks to Retire on November 30," accessed December 7, 2023
- ↑ 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
- ↑ New Hampshire Judicial Branch, "About the Supreme Court," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ NH.gov, "State Constitution - Executive Power - Governor," accessed August 24, 2021 (Article 46)
- ↑ State of New Hampshire Executive Council, "About Us," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Judicial Selection in the States: New Hampshire | Overview," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "Executive order 2000-9: An order establishing a Judicial Selection Commission," June 30, 2000
- ↑ The General Court of New Hampshire, "New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Title LI," accessed August 24, 2021 (Section 493:2)
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New Hampshire | Selection of Judges," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ While a 2001 law amended Section 490:1 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes to make the chief justice position a rotating position based on seniority, the New Hampshire Supreme Court found this law to be unconstitutional in 2004.
Federal courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Hampshire • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Hampshire
State courts:
New Hampshire Supreme Court • New Hampshire Superior Courts • New Hampshire Circuit Courts • New Hampshire Probate Courts • New Hampshire District Court • New Hampshire Family Division
State resources:
Courts in New Hampshire • New Hampshire judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Hampshire
