The State Judicial Nominating Commission, which is responsible for selecting nominees for appointment to the Iowa Supreme Court and the Iowa Court of Appeals, announced today it will begin accepting applications to fill Judge Christopher McDonald’s seat on the Iowa Court of Appeals. Judge McDonald’s last day on the Iowa Court of Appeals will be March 6, 2019. He will begin serving as a justice on the Iowa Supreme Court on March 7, 2019. The commission has sixty days from February 21, 2019, to send a slate of nominees to the Governor, who makes appointments to the court.
As previously announced, the commission will meet March 28 to 29, 2019, to interview applicants for the court of appeals vacancy created with the retirement of Chief Judge David Danilson. With the Judge McDonald vacancy, the commission will now interview candidates for both vacancies March 28 to 29 and, after the interviews, nominate six candidates to fill both the Judge Danilson and Judge McDonald vacancies. To be most favorably considered for both vacancies, an application must be received 14 days before March 28. Any citizen may submit in writing to the secretary of the commission, or to any commissioner, the names of persons for consideration as a candidate for nomination and express views concerning such candidate.
Application material can be obtained by contacting the secretary of the commission’s office at [email protected].
Once the deadline for applications to be most favorably considered for balloting has passed, the commission will release the names of all applicants along with information about each applicant's background, experience, and qualifications. This list and other information about the nominating commission and Iowa's merit selection process will be available on the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commission website.
The March 28 to 29 interviews will be in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Judicial Branch Building, 1111 East Court Avenue, Des Moines. The interview portion of the meeting is open to the public and will be streamed live and archived on the Iowa Judicial Branch YouTube channel.
The 17-member commission is composed of a chair, who is the senior justice of the supreme court other than the chief justice, eight lawyer commissioners elected by lawyers licensed to practice law in Iowa and eight commissioners appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Iowa Senate. With the exception of the commission chair, membership on the commission is limited to one six-year term. Terms are staggered. The Iowa Constitution requires that commission members be chosen without regard to political affiliation.
Iowa's process for selecting judges through the use of nominating commissions is known as merit selection. Iowa voters approved the merit selection process in 1962 by constitutional amendment. Merit selection is designed to emphasize the professional qualifications of applicants for judicial appointment and minimize partisan politics. In keeping with this design, the commission puts applicants for judicial office through a rigorous and thorough screening by reviewing extensive information about each applicant's background, education, professional skills, and experience. After the interviews, the commission sends the governor a slate of nominees. Iowa law requires nominees to be chosen "upon the basis of their qualifications and without regard to political affiliation." The governor is required to pick the new judge or justice from this slate.
Important Notice to Applicants: To be eligible for appointment to the court, a person must be a resident of the state, licensed to practice law in Iowa, and must be of such age that they will be able to serve an initial and one regular term of office before reaching the age of 72.
The names and addresses of the State Judicial Nominating Commission members and secretary are:
Chairperson
Justice David S. Wiggins
1111 E. Court Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50319
[email protected]
Secretary
Todd Nuccio
State Court Administrator
1111 E. Court Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50319
[email protected]
Elected Lawyer Members
Henry Bevel
528 West 4th Street
Waterloo, IA 50704-1200
[email protected]
Christine Conover
115 Third Street SE, Suite 1200
Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
[email protected]
Martin Diaz
1570 Shady Court NW
Swisher, IA 52338
[email protected]
Dorothy O’Brien
2322 East Kimberly Road, Ste. 100E
Davenport, IA 52807
[email protected]
Jeff Goodman
1501 42nd Street, Ste. 300
West Des Moines, IA 50266
[email protected]
Connie Diekema
699 Walnut Street, Ste. 1900
Des Moines, IA 50309
[email protected]
Suzan Boden
613 Pierce Street
Sioux City, IA 51102-1557
[email protected]
John Gray
1128 Historic 4th Street
Sioux City, IA 51102-1557
[email protected]
Appointed Members
Kathy Pearson
150 Thompson Drive SE, #120
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403-1740
[email protected]
Lance Horbach
136 Hillcrest Ridge
Montezuma, IA 50171
[email protected]
Helen Sinclair
2208 560th Avenue
Melrose, IA 52569-8502
[email protected]
Steve Berger
1452 128th Place
Wellman, IA 52356
[email protected]
John Bloom
4820 Elm Street
West Des Moines, IA 50265-2995
[email protected]
Kathleen Law
700 Walnut Street, Suite 1600
Des Moines, IA 50309
[email protected]
Steve Sukup
1405 North Shore Drive
Clear Lake, IA 50428-1237
[email protected]
Patricia “Trish” Roberts
732 San Salvador Avenue
Carroll, IA 51401
[email protected]
For More Information:
Contact: The State Judicial Nominating Commission through Steve Davis, Court Communication Director, (515) 348-4967 or [email protected]