Oklahoma Supreme Court elections, 2022
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Oklahoma is one of two states with two courts of last resort. The Oklahoma Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the state for civil matters, while the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is the court of last resort in the state for criminal matters. The terms of four supreme court justices expired on January 8, 2023. All four seats were up for retention election on November 8, 2022.
Oklahoma was one of 30 states that held elections for state supreme court in 2022. That year, 84 of the 344 seats on state supreme courts were up for election. Of those, 64 were held by nonpartisan justices, 13 were held by Republican justices, and eight were held by Democratic justices. For more on the partisan affiliation of state supreme court justices, click here. For an overview of state supreme court elections in 2022, click here.
Candidates and election results
District 2
Oklahoma Supreme Court District 2, Dustin P. Rowe's seat
Dustin P. Rowe was retained to District 2 of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 64.9% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
64.9
|
668,080 | ||
No |
35.1
|
361,278 | |||
Total Votes |
1,029,358 | ||||
|
|
District 5
Oklahoma Supreme Court District 5, James R. Winchester's seat
James R. Winchester was retained to District 5 of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 63.5% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
63.5
|
653,330 | ||
No |
36.5
|
375,076 | |||
Total Votes |
1,028,406 | ||||
|
|
District 6
Oklahoma Supreme Court District 6, Kuehn's seat
Dana Kuehn was retained to District 6 of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 66.2% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
66.2
|
680,378 | ||
No |
33.8
|
347,435 | |||
Total Votes |
1,027,813 | ||||
|
|
District 8
Oklahoma Supreme Court District 8, Douglas L. Combs' seat
Douglas L. Combs was retained to District 8 of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 61.3% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
61.3
|
628,893 | ||
No |
38.7
|
397,842 | |||
Total Votes |
1,026,735 | ||||
|
|
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Oklahoma
About the Oklahoma Supreme Court
- See also: Oklahoma Supreme Court
The Oklahoma Supreme Court is composed of nine justices who are appointed by the governor and then must stand for retention by voters thereafter. A full term on the court is six years. Retention elections take place during Oklahoma's general elections, which are held every two years in even-numbered years.
Political composition
This was the political composition of the supreme court heading into the 2022 election. Justices in Oklahoma are appointed by the governor and retained by voters thereafter.
| ■ Douglas L. Combs | Appointed by Gov. Brad Henry (D) in 2010 | |
| ■ Richard Darby | Appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin (R) in 2018 | |
| ■ James Edmondson | Appointed by Gov. Brad Henry (D) in 2003 | |
| ■ Noma D. Gurich | Appointed by Gov. Brad Henry (D) in 2011 | |
| ■ Yvonne Kauger | Appointed by Gov. George Nigh (D) in 1984 | |
| ■ James R. Winchester | Appointed by Gov. Frank Keating (R) in 2000 | |
| ■ M. John Kane IV | Appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) in 2019 | |
| ■ Dustin Rowe | Appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) in 2019 | |
| ■ Dana Kuehn | Appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) in 2021 |
Selection
- See also: Judicial selection in Oklahoma
Oklahoma Supreme Court
The nine justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court are appointed by the governor from a list of three names compiled by a nominating commission and serve initial terms of at least one year.[1] If voters opt to retain an appointee during the next general election, that judge will go on to serve either a full six-year term or to serve out the unexpired term of his or her predecessor.[2]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters (2021)
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters, a study on how state supreme court justices decided the cases that came before them. Our goal was to determine which justices ruled together most often, which frequently dissented, and which courts featured the most unanimous or contentious decisions.
The study tracked the position taken by each state supreme court justice in every case they decided in 2020, then tallied the number of times the justices on the court ruled together. We identified the following types of justices:
- We considered two justices opinion partners if they frequently concurred or dissented together throughout the year.
- We considered justices a dissenting minority if they frequently opposed decisions together as a -1 minority.
- We considered a group of justices a determining majority if they frequently determined cases by a +1 majority throughout the year.
- We considered a justice a lone dissenter if he or she frequently dissented alone in cases throughout the year.
Summary of cases decided in 2020
- Number of justices: 9
- Number of cases: 112
- Percentage of cases with a unanimous ruling: 65.2% (73)
- Justice most often writing the majority opinion: Justice James Edmondson (11)
- Per curiam decisions: 58
- Concurring opinions: 8
- Justice with most concurring opinions: Justice Dustin Rowe (3)
- Dissenting opinions: 33
- Justice with most dissenting opinions: Justice Dustin Rowe (11)
For the study's full set of findings in Oklahoma, click here.
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
- See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship
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, based on a variety of factors. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on the political or ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. To arrive at confidence scores we analyzed each justice's past partisan activity by collecting data on campaign finance, past political positions, party registration history, as well as other factors. The five categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[3]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
We used the Confidence Scores of each justice to develop a Court Balance Score, which attempted to show the balance among justices with Democratic, Republican, and Indeterminate Confidence Scores on a court. Courts with higher positive Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Republican Confidence Scores, while courts with lower negative Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Democratic Confidence Scores. Courts closest to zero either had justices with conflicting partisanship or justices with Indeterminate Confidence Scores.[4]
Oklahoma had a Court Balance Score of 1.43, indicating Republican control of the court. In total, the study found that there were 15 states with Democrat-controlled courts, 27 states with Republican-controlled courts, and eight states with Split courts. The map below shows the court balance score of each state.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Oklahoma State Courts Network, "Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission," accessed August 29, 2014
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Oklahoma," accessed August 16, 2016
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ The Court Balance Score is calculated by finding the average partisan Confidence Score of all justices on a state supreme court. For example, if a state has justices on the state supreme court with Confidence Scores of 4, -2, 2, 14, -2, 3, and 4, the Court Balance is the average of those scores: 3.3. Therefore, the Confidence Score on the court is Mild Republican. The use of positive and negative numbers in presenting both Confidence Scores and Court Balance Scores should not be understood to that either a Republican or Democratic score is positive or negative. The numerical values represent their distance from zero, not whether one score is better or worse than another.
Federal courts:
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Oklahoma, Northern District of Oklahoma, Western District of Oklahoma • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Oklahoma, Northern District of Oklahoma, Western District of Oklahoma
State courts:
Oklahoma Supreme Court • Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals • Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals • Oklahoma District Courts • Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Court of Existing Claims
State resources:
Courts in Oklahoma • Oklahoma judicial elections • Judicial selection in Oklahoma
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