Little must pick an Idaho judge. These 5 lawyers applied. What do you think of them?
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Five lawyers are vying for an appointment from Gov. Brad Little to a judgeship in Idaho’s 3rd Judicial District, which includes Canyon and five smaller counties. A state review panel wants to hear your thoughts about them.
Andrea Courtney, a district judge, retired in July after serving four years as a district judge in Caldwell. Her retirement opened the job to which the lawyers applied.
None of the lawyers is in private practice. All five already work in local government, four of them in Canyon County:
Ruth Coose, deputy prosecuting attorney for Canyon County.
Shari Dodge, deputy prosecuting attorney for Canyon County.
Gabriel McCarthy, deputy public defender for Canyon County.
Lary Sisson, deputy public defender for Canyon County.
Scott Davis, deputy prosecuting attorney for Bonneville County.
The job pays $151,200 per year.
To qualify, a candidate must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the U.S., a resident of Idaho for at least two continuous years, in good standing as an active or judicial member of the State Bar, and a holder of a law license or judicial office in one or more jurisdictions for at least 10 continuous years.
The district includes Canyon, Adams, Owyhee, Gem, Payette and Washington counties.
The Idaho Judicial Council receives the applications and interviews and recommends three to four candidates to the governor. The council is made up of nine members, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, a district judge, a magistrate judge, two lawyers and four non-attorney members who are appointed by the governor.
The council says it wants “information you believe the Judicial Council should have about the candidate’s qualifications.”
“The areas most important ... are each candidate’s integrity and moral courage, legal ability, legal experience, intelligence and wisdom, capacity to be fair-minded and deliberate, industriousness and promptness in performing duties, compatibility of personal habits and outside activities with judicial office, and capacity to be courteous and considerate on the bench,” the council said in instructions on its public-comment form.
The form is available at judicialcouncil.idaho.gov/vacant.htm. Comments are due Monday, Oct. 16.
The council plans to meet in Caldwell in November to interview candidate interviews and select nominees.
The appointed judge will serve the remainder of Courtney’s four-year term and face election in 2024 if the judge wants to serve another term.
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