State ex rel. Richardson v. Fifth Judicial District Nominating Commission

OPINION

SERNA, Justice.

{1} A district judge position in the Fifth Judicial District sits vacant because of a perceived conflict between our Governor’s constitutional authority to appoint judges from a list of qualified and recommended nominees and the Fifth Judicial District Nominating Commission’s discretion in recommending qualified nominees to the Governor. We are thus confronted with two critically important competing interests, which we must reconcile in order to comply with both the spirit and letter of our Constitution. The suit comes to us as an original proceeding in mandamus, in…