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1 David Keith, Judicial Nominating Commissions 1 (2019)

handle is hein.brennan/judnomc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: RESEARCH Judicial Nominating Commissions An analysis finds that despite varying methods of selecting them, state commissioners are almost uniformly professionally homogeneous. By Douglas Keith n a recent report, the Brennan Center proposed reforms to judicial selection methods that would reduce partisan and political pressures on judges.1 One key element of that proposal is an independent, publicly accountable nominating commission to recruit, evaluate, and recommend judicial candidates for appointment. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia already use a commission as part of the selection process for at least some of their high court judges, but not all commis- sions are alike.2 Commissions differ in size, composition, and legal authority, not to mention the backgrounds of the individual commissioners that serve on them. Building on prior research, this paper assesses who has influence on commissions today, both on paper and in practice, by examining the commissions' members. It first analyzes the relevant provisions of state constitutions, stat- utes, and executive orders dictating who serves on commis- sions and who appoints commissioners. Then the paper details the findings of a first-of-its-kind nationwide analysis of the professional background of nearly 340 nominating commissioners in 26 jurisdictions that use commissions to fill all vacancies on their high courts.3 Ultimately, this analysis shows key variations in the design of nominating commissions that have implications for who has power over, or a voice in, the commission's process of recruiting, vetting, and recommending judicial applicants. It also shows that despite the variety of commis- sion designs, there is a near-uniform lack of professional diversity among commissioners. Among the key findings: Governors appoint a majority of commissioners in less than half of commission states. Majority control gives governors substantial power to shape a commis- sion's priorities in 15 states, but that power is far from universal. In more jurisdictions - 16 of 35 - no single authority appoints a majority of commissioners. Lawyers predominate, even when the law does not require it. In 26 of 35 jurisdictions, lawyers filled a majority of commission seats, even though only 15 require lawyer majorities. Lawyers have a unique perspective highly relevant to judges' work, but they are not fully representative of the public whose rights those judges' decisions will affect. Nonlawyer com- missioners fill a majority of commission seats in just six states and half of the seats in three states. Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law

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