Indiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Indiana is the state supreme court in the state of Indiana. It was established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution. It is located in Indianapolis inside the Indiana State House building.
Organization
The court consists of one Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, although the Indiana General Assembly may increase the number of Associate Justices to eight.[1] To be eligible to serve on the court a Justice must have practiced law in Indiana for a minimum of ten years or have been a trial court judge for a minimum of five years.[2] The Chief Justice is selected from the existing justices.
When there is a vacancy on the court, a new justice is nominated using a variant of the Missouri Plan. First a list of three qualified nominess is made by a Judicial Nominating Commission, who then submit the list to the Governor, who picks the new Justice. If the Governor fails to do so within 60 days, the Chief Justice or the acting Chief Justice must do so.[2] Once a new Justice is chosen, they will serve for two years then must be approved by the electorate during a general election. Every ten years each member of the court faces a retention election. Under state law, Justices must retire at age 75.
Current Justices
- Randall T. Shepard, (since 1985), Chief Justice (elevated 1987)
- Brent E. Dickson, (since 1986), Associate Justice
- Frank Sullivan, Jr., (since 1993), Associate Justice
- Theodore R. Boehm, (since 1996), Associate Justice
- Robert D. Rucker, (since 1999), Associate Justice
References
- ^ Article 7, Section 2, Indiana Constitution.
- ^ a b Article 7, Section 10, Indiana Constitution.