hot topic | STATE COURTS Sources: National Center for State Courts, American Judicature Society, Justice at Stake
© Images.com/Corbis (Jude Maceren)
Judicial candidates for high courts raised $206.4 million for campaigns from 2000 to 2009, up from $83.3 million the previous decade. The first woman to serve on a state supreme court was Florence Ellinwood Allen, who was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1922.
32 states and Washington, D.C., require justices to retire at ages ranging from 70 to 90.
Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard is the longestserving chief justice, serving since March 4, 1987. state courts of last resort have of members without prior judicial experience.
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7
states—California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee— have courts of last resort constituted entirely of judges with lower-court judicial experience.
Vermont is the only state that allows a judge to remain on the bench until age 90.
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$148,064 ; the median salary is $142,341.
The mean salary for associate justices is
17
states have uncontested retention elections
after initial appointment; 12 states grant life
tenure or use reappointment.
California ranks first in associate justices’ salaries at $218,237; Montana ranks last, at $106,185.
76 percent of Americans believe campaign contributions have at least some impact on a judge’s courtroom decisions.
81 percent of Americans believe a
neutral judge, not the judge whose fairness is being challenged, should decide whether a judge should avoid a case involving campaign benefactors.
In 3 states—California, Maine and New Jersey—the governor has sole discretion in naming judicial appointees.
25 states choose their high court judges by the appointment process known as merit selection.
In 2 states—South Carolina and Virginia— the legislature appoints judges.
