Litigation

Nevada: A Vote Against Merit Selection

By Peter Hardin

Nevada voters will continue to select state Supreme Court justices and district judges by contested elections, after rejecting on Election Day a ballot initiative for merit-based selection of these judges.

The measure was rejected by more than 57 percent of voters who cast a ballot, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal article.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was one of the leading advocates who pressed for the shift in Nevada, where similar proposals were turned down by voters in in 1972 and 1988.

Retired Nevada Supreme Court Justice William Maupin, who supported merit selection, called the state’s citizens “independent.” He added, “They want to retain the right to vote for judges. That’s a tradition in this state that goes back to statehood.”

Although the merit selection measure fell short of winning popular support, it drew backing, according to the Review-Journal, of “a majority of attorneys, business groups, unions and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.”

Voters kept Supreme Court Justices James Hardesty and Ron Parraguirre on the bench. Each ran unopposed. According to an Associated Press article, about a fifth of the voters in each contest elected to back “none of these candidates.”

You can read details about the Nevada vote, and reaction from the Justice at Stake Campaign, in a JAS statement issued today.

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 03, 2010 (boomark / email).