Nevada Judicial Appointment: What Would It REALLY Look Like?

.Currently, Nevada DOES have judicial appointment. However, it is only used when there is a vacancy on the bench. For instance, the recent 2008 Judicial Elections created 2 vacancies in the District Court, Family Division, in Clark County. As a result, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection stepped in and selected nominations from 15 applicants to be provided to the Governor. Then, the Governor appointed 2 judges. The majority of the judges in Clark County were initially appointed by the Governor. Surprised? Well, this means that the discussion of judicial appointment does not have to take place in a vacuum. We have a pretty good idea how judicial appointments will function in Nevada, if the voters agree to amend the State Constitution in 2010 to do away with an elected judiciary. What we don't know, and never have known, is whether the judges are any good at their jobs (e.g. no judicial evaluations of any value).

The Commission:

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection ("the Commission") is comprised of 7 permanent individuals – the Supreme Court Chief Justice, 3 non-attorneys appointed by the Governor and 3 attorneys appointed by the State Bar of Nevada. (Neither the Governor nor the Bar may appoint more than two permanent members from the same political party, and cannot appoint two members from the same county).

For District Court vacancies, 2 temporary members are appointed – a non-attorney by the Governor and an attorney by the State Bar – bringing the Commission membership to 9. The temporary members serve only until the nominations for the vacancy are transmitted to the Governor. The Commission is all appointed by the Governor and the State Bar of Nevada. Currently, the 7 permanent Commission members are:

Chief Justice James W. Hardesty, Nevada Supreme Court (Voter Elected);
Chair Ruthe Agee, of Spring Creek, Elko County, who works in the orthodontic field, (Governor appointee);
Ann Bersi, Ph.D., former deputy district attorney in the Civil Division of the Clark County District Attorney’s Office (State Bar appointee);
G. Fred Boyd, small business consultant in Reno (Governor appointee);
Scott Freeman, Reno attorney (State Bar appointee);
Jeffrey Gilbert, veteran gaming executive (Governor appointee);
Thomas L. Stockard, Fallon, Churchill County Deputy District Attorney (State Bar appointee).

The 2 temporary members for the Clark County appointments were:

Rebecca H. Miller, Las Vegas attorney (State Bar appointee);
Mary-Ellen McMullen, a community volunteer from Henderson (Governor appointee).

The Applicants & The Investigation Process:

The Commission initially posts that they are taking in resumes and will conduct interviews, when there is an opening in the Nevada Judiciary. The Commission does some research on the candidates and conducts a couple days of interviews. The Commission, then, makes a recommendation of 3 candidates, for each judicial seat, to the Governor, from which he can select a judicial appointee. Here is a list of the candidates that submitted their names for consideration to the Commission in February 2009 to fill the 2 openings. In this case there were 15 applicants. Of the 6 nominations that were made for the judicial seats, Vincent Ochoa occupied 2 of the spots, being recommended for both seats. Somehow, Mr. Ochoa missed out on both jobs.

The 3 nominees for Department E:

• Gregory G. Gordon, 38, Henderson, attorney in private practice
• Charles J. Hoskin, 45, Las Vegas, attorney in private practice (appointed)
• Vincent Ochoa, 56, Las Vegas, attorney in private practice

The 3 nominees for Department F:

• William B. Gonzalez, 47, Las Vegas, Clark County Deputy Public Defender (appointed)
• Keith M. Lyons, Jr., 47, Las Vegas, attorney in private practice
• Vincent Ochoa, 56, Las Vegas, attorney in private practice

Considerations For Nomination By The Commission:

What did the commission consider in recommending the appointments? According to the Administrative Office of the Nevada Supreme Court,

"For just the second time ever, the interviews and deliberations of the Commission on Judicial Selection were open to the public, and members of the public were allowed to address the Commission to speak about the qualifications of candidates.

The interviews were conducted over two days in the Supreme Court’s Las Vegas courtroom at the Regional Justice Center. Chief Justice Hardesty said that because of the burgeoning caseloads at Family Court, about three weeks was trimmed off the selection process."

"In making their decisions, the Commission considered comprehensive applications from the attorneys providing information about education, law practice, business involvement, community involvement, professional and personal conduct, and health. The Commission also considered letters of reference, written public comments, and responses to verbal questions posed during the interviews. "

Sure . . . that was all they considered.

Future Face Of Judicial Appointment:

In Nevada, what can we look forward to if we amend the state Constitution to allow for judicial appointment, instead of an elected judiciary? Well, we can look forward to 7-9 people that are appointed by the State Bar and the Governor, to control who even gets put in front of the Governor. These people barely have any more information in front of them than the general public does. At least they perform some kind of evaluation, though. That is quite a select few making the decisions for several million of us. There are only 2 people elected in the entire process (the Governor & the Chief Justice). It will only be 1, if judicial appointments are implemented, though.

Is there any question that this system will not change, if the judicial appointments are implemented? We don't know anything about this Commission, as the general public. We have almost zero control of who is appointed to the Commission, other than the election of the Governor. We will get judicial evaluations, hopefully, with the amendment. However, this can stay in place and the public could finally be informed about their judiciary.

All in all, if judicial appointment is the wave for Nevada's future, it is still dependent upon self-nominating candidates. (only 15 for 2 seats, most recently). I'd suggest that the Commission seek out their own candidates and find some of the most qualified people in Nevada to ask to be judges. Otherwise, the Commission really can't do much better than the voters. In the end, both systems are dependent on self-nomination, so why not break out of THAT mold?

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