State Senate passes measure for voters to consider judicial nomination reform

JUDICIAL-NOMINATION REFORM WINS OKLAHOMA SENATE APPROVAL Legislation that would reform the state’s judicial nominating process has won easy approval in the Oklahoma Senate. “This is an extremely important reform that I think most Oklahomans will support,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City. Senate Joint Resolution 43, by Treat, would give voters the opportunity to amend the Oklahoma Constitution so that many judicial nominees would be selected by the governor with Senate confirmation required for appointment, duplicating the process used to make federal judicial appointments. The governor would nominate the chief justice and associate justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the chief judge and associate judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the judges of all intermediate appellate courts. Following gubernatorial nomination and Senate approval, those judges would then be subject to periodic retention-ballot elections. District court judges would be chosen by election in a process that identifies the partisan affiliation of a judicial candidate. The system created by SJR 43 would replace Oklahoma’s Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC). The JNC is a 15-member group that screens applicants for some of Oklahoma’s highest courts. In the case of Oklahoma Supreme Court vacancies, the JNC recommends only three nominees. The governor is not allowed to consider appointing anyone else, regardless of other potential jurists’ records. However, under SJR 43, the governor would be allowed to consider a much wider range of potential judicial nominees. The JNC system has long been criticized for its secrecy and the perception that the group is overly controlled by the Oklahoma Bar Association, which appoints many of its members. Read more » by Jamison Faught - March 24, 2022 at 04:00PM

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