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Mark Recktenwald
2010 - Present
2025
15
Mark Recktenwald is the chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. He assumed office on September 14, 2010. His current term ends on October 8, 2025.
In Hawaii, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. Recktenwald was appointed to a 10-year term as chief justice to succeed former Chief Justice Ronald Moon by Gov. Linda Lingle (R) on August 13, 2010. The Hawaii Senate confirmed his nomination on September 2, 2010.[1][2]
Recktenwald first became a member of the court by appointment. Lingle appointed him to the court as an associate justice in 2009 to replace retired Justice Steven Levinson.[3] To read more about judicial selection in Hawaii, click here.
On July 13, 2020, Hawaii's Judicial Selection Commission renewed Recktenwald's term, effective September 14, 2020. This term ends on October 8, 2025, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.[4]
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] Recktenwald received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Recktenwald earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1978 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1986.[7][8]
Recktenwald was an attorney in private practice, an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Hawaii, and director of the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs before becoming a judge. In 2007, he was appointed chief judge of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals. Gov. Lingle appointed him to the state supreme court in 2009. She appointed him chief justice in 2010.[7]
Appointments
2025
Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald is retiring on October 8, 2025 after he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. Recktenwald's replacement will be Governor Green's (D) third nominee to the five-member supreme court.
In Hawaii, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a hybrid judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission who has no majority of members selected either by the governor or the state Bar Association. 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, the position is filled just as it would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. The governor appoints a successor from a list provided by a nominating commission, and the appointee faces confirmation from the state Senate. Newly appointed justices serve full 10-year terms.[9]
2020
On July 13, 2020, Hawaii's Judicial Selection Commission renewed Recktenwald's term as chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court, effective September 14, 2020.[4]
2010
Gov. Lingle appointed Recktenwald chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. The Hawaii State Senate confirmed his nomination on September 2, 2010.[2]
2009
Gov. Lingle appointed Recktenwald to the Hawaii Supreme Court. He took office on May 11, 2009.[7]
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.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- 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.
Mark
Recktenwald
Hawaii
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Worked on a campaign for a Republican candidate
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Held political office as a Republican
Partisan Profile
Details:
Recktenwald worked as the advance man for John Anderson's (R) campaign for president in 1980. He donated $3,502 to Republican candidates and organizations. Recktenwald served as director of the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs as a Republican. He was registered as a member of the Republican party prior to 2020. Recktenwald was appointed by Gov. Linda Lingle (R).
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Recktenwald received a campaign finance score of 0.35, 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.
Recktenwald received a campaign finance score of 0.35, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of -0.29 that justices received in Hawaii.
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.[12]
Noteworthy cases
Hawaii Supreme Court rescinds construction permit for world's largest telescope (2015)
- See also: Hawaii Supreme Court (Hou v. Board of Land and Natural Resources, Hawai'i, SCAP-14-0000873)
- See also: Hawaii Supreme Court (Hou v. Board of Land and Natural Resources, Hawai'i, SCAP-14-0000873)
The Hawaii Supreme Court rescinded the construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope, intended to be the largest and most powerful optical telescope in the world. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) was planned to be an 18-story high, $1.4 billion observatory of the northern hemisphere and to have a resolution 12 times sharper than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. On December 2, 2015, the court ruled that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources did not follow due process when it approved the permit in 2011, before Hawaiians had a chance to air their complaints in a court hearing.[13][14]
Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald wrote the opinion.[15]
Construction was led by the California Institute of Technology and the University of California and involved international collaboration. Construction had been stalled since April due to protesters blocking workers from accessing the telescope's construction site. The site was near the summit of Mauna Kea, the state's tallest mountain and a dormant volcano. Mauna Kea was a state-designated conservation district as of 2015.[13][14]
Opponents of the TMT said the telescope was industrial development and would therefore violate the rules for conservation districts. A court-ordered environmental impact statement in 2005 said that three decades of astronomy had an adverse effect on the area's nature and culture. There were 13 other telescopes on Mauna Kea as of 2015.[13]
The Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corporation tweeted, "This is not a judgment against T.M.T., but rather against the state's process in granting the permits."[13]
State supreme court judicial selection in Hawaii
- See also: Judicial selection in Hawaii
The five justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission is responsible for screening candidates and submitting a shortlist to the governor. The commission is made up of nine members: two appointed by the governor, two appointed by the state Senate president, two appointed by the state House speaker, two appointed by the Hawaii Bar Association, and one appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court. The governor must appoint a judge from the commission's shortlist and the appointee must then be confirmed by the Hawaii State Senate.[9]
Justices serve for 10 years after their appointment. To continue to serve on the court, they must receive a majority vote of the selection commission.[9]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:[9]
- a U.S. resident and citizen;
- a resident and citizen of the state;
- a practicing attorney in the state for at least ten years; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement by 70 is mandatory retirement).
Chief justice
In Hawaii, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. The chief justice is appointed in the same manner as the other justices on the court.[9]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs, the position is filled just as it would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. The governor appoints a successor from a list provided by a nominating commission, and the appointee faces confirmation from the state Senate. Newly appointed justices serve full 10-year terms.[9]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Officeholder Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice |
Footnotes
- ↑ Star Advertiser, "Recktenwald picked to lead high court," August 14, 2010
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Advertiser, "Senate confirms Recktenwald as new high court chief justice," September 3, 2010
- ↑ The University of Chicago School of Law, "Mark Recktenwald '86 Nominated as Hawaii's Next Chief Justice," accessed June 25, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mercedes Yanora, "Email communication with Andrew Laurence of the Hawaii Supreme Court," September 18, 2020
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Hawaii State Judiciary, "Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald," accessed June 25, 2021
- ↑ Vote Smart, "Mark Recktenwald's Biography," accessed June 25, 2021
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Hawai'i State Judiciary, "Overview of the Hawai`i Judicial System," accessed April 18, 2025
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 New York Times, "Hawaii court rescinds permit to build thirty meter telescope," December 3, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Gizmodo, "Why the world's most powerful telescope has just been ruled unlawful," December 7, 2015
- ↑ Star Advertiser, "State Supreme Court vacates permit for Thirty Meter Telescope," December 2, 2015
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Hawaii • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Hawaii
State courts:
Hawaii Supreme Court • Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals • Hawaii Circuit Courts • Hawaii District Courts • Hawaii Family Courts
State resources:
Courts in Hawaii • Hawaii judicial elections • Judicial selection in Hawaii
