Vermont Judicial Nominating Board

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Methods of judicial selection
Partisan elections
Nonpartisan elections
Michigan method
Retention elections
Assisted appointment
Bar-controlled commission
Governor-controlled commission
Hybrid commission
Legislative elections
Gubernatorial appointment

The Vermont Judicial Nominating Board plays a role in the state's judicial selection process. The nominating board was created by state statute. The board consists of 12 members—two appointed by the governor, three elected from within the state Senate, three elected from within the state House, three elected by the state Bar association, and the Executive Director of Racial Equity or a designee.

Vermont uses the assisted appointment method of judicial selection for its state courts. Using this method, the governor appoints state judges from a list of names submitted by the judicial nominating board. This selection method is used for Supreme Court justices, superior court judges, and magistrates and for members of the Vermont Public Utility Commission.

The Vermont Judicial Nominating Board is a hybrid commission, which means that there is no majority of members chosen by either the governor or the state Bar association. As of September 12, 2025, 11 states used this type of commission. To learn more about controlling majorities in judicial selection commissions, click here.

Members

Last updated: April 2025

There are 12 members on the board. The governor appoints two non-attorney members. The Senate and House each elect three of their members to serve on the board. Of the three members chosen by each group, only one can be an attorney and not all the members chosen can be from the same political party. Members of the Vermont State Bar, who also live in Vermont, elect three of their members to serve on the board. The Vermont Supreme Court determines how the attorney members are elected. The Executive Director of Racial Equity or a designee also serves on the board. The members of the board elect the board chair. All members serve a two-year term and are not allowed to serve more than three consecutive terms on the board.

Members of the Vermont Judicial Nominating Board, April 2025
Name	Appointed by
Jessica Burke	Vermont Bar Association
Justin Brown	Vermont Bar Association
Sarah Vangel	Vermont Bar Association
David Soucy	Gov. Phil Scott (R)
Dennise Casey	Gov. Phil Scott (R)
Xusana Davis	Executive Director of Racial Equity
Sen. Robert Norris (R)	Elected by Senate
Sen. Joe Major (D)	Elected by Senate
Sen. Nader Hashim (D)	Elected by Senate
Rep. Kenneth Goslant (R)	Elected by House
Rep. Golrang Garofano (D)	Elected by House
Rep. Barbara Rachelson (D)	Elected by House

Process

The board submits a list of names to the governor from which to choose an appointee to fill a judicial vacancy. The board must determine that an applicant is qualified. State statute requires the board to consider the attributes of:

• Integrity
• Legal knowledge and ability
• Judicial temperament
• Impartiality
• Communication capability
• Financial integrity
• Work ethic
• Administrative capability
• Courtroom experience
• Any other attributes the board determines are relevant in its rules

Under state statute, a qualified applicant must be the following:

“

(c)(1) A candidate for judge or Justice shall be a Vermont resident and an experienced lawyer who has practiced law for a minimum of 10 years, with at least five years in Vermont immediately preceding the candidate’s application to the Board. The Board may make exceptions to the requirement that the candidate’s five years of practice in Vermont be contiguous and immediately preceding the candidate’s application for reasons including family, military, academic, or medical leave. (2) A candidate for magistrate shall be a Vermont resident and an experienced lawyer who has practiced law in Vermont for at least five years immediately preceding the candidate’s application to the Board. The Board may make exceptions to the requirement that the candidate’s five years of practice in Vermont be contiguous and immediately preceding the candidate’s application for reasons including family, military, academic, or medical leave.

”

The board gives a list of all candidates to the court administrator, who provides the board with information on professional disciplinary action taken or pending against any candidate, if applicable.

The board votes on candidates when a quorum is present (eight members). A three-fourths majority vote is used to select the candidates to be placed on the governor's list.

Control of judicial selection commissions

Assisted appointment is a method of judicial selection in which a nominating commission reviews the qualifications of judicial candidates and submits a list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from the list.

At the state supreme court level, this method is further divided into the following three types, based on the makeup of the judicial nominating commissions. Those types are:

• Governor-controlled commission - The governor is either responsible for appointing a majority of the members of the nominating commission or may decline to appoint a candidate from a list provided by the nominating commission.
• Bar-controlled commission - Members of the state Bar Association are responsible for electing a majority of the members of the nominating commission.
• Hybrid - There is no majority of members chosen by either the governor or the state Bar Association. The membership of these commissions is determined by different rules in each state.

Twenty-three courts in 22 states used assisted appointment to select state supreme court justices as of June 2021. Vermont used a hybrid commission. The table below shows the number of courts using each variation of assisted appointment at the state supreme court level.

Assisted appointment methods in state supreme courts
Method	Courts (of 23)
Governor-controlled majority	10
Bar-controlled majority	1
Hybrid	12

The map below highlights the states that use each of the three types of assisted appointment.

About judicial selection

Each state has a unique set of guidelines governing how they select judges at the state and local level. These methods of selection are:

Election

• Partisan election: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot alongside a label designating political party affiliation.
• Nonpartisan election: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot without a label designating party affiliation.
• Michigan method: State supreme court justices are selected through nonpartisan elections preceded by either partisan primaries or conventions.
• Retention election: A periodic process whereby voters are asked whether an incumbent judge should remain in office for another term. Judges are not selected for initial terms in office using this election method.

Assisted appointment

• Assisted appointment, also known as merit selection or the Missouri Plan: A nominating commission reviews the qualifications of judicial candidates and submits a list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from the list. At the state supreme court level, this method is further divided into the following three types:
  • Bar-controlled commission: Members of the state Bar Association are responsible for electing a majority of the judicial nominating commission that sends the governor a list of nominees that they must choose from.
  • Governor-controlled commission: The governor is responsible for appointing a majority of the judicial nominating commission that sends the governor a list of nominees they must choose from.
  • Hybrid commission: The judicial nominating commission has no majority of members chosen by either the governor or the state bar association. These commissions determine membership in a variety of ways, but no institution or organization has a clear majority control.

Direct appointment

• Court appointment: Judges are selected by judges in the state judiciary.
• Gubernatorial appointment: Judges are appointed by the governor. In some cases, approval from the legislative body is required.
• Legislative election: Judges are selected by the state legislature.
• Municipal government selection: Judges are selected by the governing body of their municipality.

Click a state on the map below to explore judicial selection processes in that state.

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http://ballotpedia.org/Judicial_selection_in_STATE

History

Beginning in 1777, the governor appointed the state's judges, with the approval of the governor's council. Except for a 20-year period when judges in the state's lower courts were elected to one-year terms by voters, either the governor, the general assembly, or both were responsible for choosing judges until 1967. That year, Vermont's General Assembly passed a law creating the Judicial Nominating Board to recommend judicial candidates to the governor. In 1974, voters approved a merit selection system for judges in Vermont. This changed some parts of the judicial selection process, and this method is still used to choose the state's judges.

See also

State courts	Appointment methods	Election methods
State supreme courts Intermediate appellate courts Trial courts	Assisted appointment Court appointment Gubernatorial appointment Legislative election Municipal government selection	Partisan election Nonpartisan election Michigan method

External links

• Vermont Judicial Nomination Information

Footnotes

Vermont courts

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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