IN FOCUS - Sept. 27, 2024

A Democrat will appoint a justice to the Arizona Supreme Court for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The vacancy created by Justice Robert Brutinel’s coming retirement, announced this week, will give Governor Katie Hobbs her first opportunity to make her mark on a High Court molded by Republican predecessors. Governor Hobbs has appointed 19 judges to various courts over the past 18 months, but Supreme Court selections are a far rarer and more valuable commodity.

The Arizona Supreme Court has been at the center of multiple political flashpoints in recent years, including reinstituting Arizona’s territorial abortion ban and nixing a voter-approved surcharge to boost education funding. 

Adding to the mix, progressives want to unseat Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King in their November retention elections - thus handing Hobbs up to three vacancies on the seven-member court. Voters will have an opportunity to invalidate that effort if they approve Proposition 137 - a ballot referral from the GOP-led Legislature that would eliminate retention elections for Arizona Supreme Court justices and Superior Court judges. The measure is retroactive, meaning its approval would invalidate any effort to remove Justices Bolick and King.

Though a Senate panel has stymied Governor Hobbs’ agency appointments, GOP legislators will have no such authority to block her Supreme Court picks. Applicants for the Arizona Supreme Court are reviewed by a special commission, which sends a list of at least three finalists to the Governor. The Governor’s Supreme Court selections are not subject to Senate confirmation.