The Oklahoma Bar Journal April 2023

B ar N ews

Judicial Nominating Commission Elections

Nomination Period Opens

the Oklahoma Bar Center by 5 p.m. Friday, June 16, 2023. Ballots will be tabulated on June 19, 2023, at 9 a.m. Elections results will be posted June 19, 2023. In the event of a runoff, the ballots for the runoff election will be mailed June 23, 2023, and the deadline for their return is 5 p.m. July 21, 2023. Those ballots would be tabulated on July 24, 2023. It is important to the administra tion of justice that the OBA members in the Congressional Districts 1 and 2 become informed on the candidates and cast their votes. The framers of the constitutional amend ment entrusted to the lawyers the responsibility of electing qualified people to serve on the commis sion. Hopefully, the lawyers in Congressional Districts 1 and 2 will fulfill their responsibility by voting. OBA PROCEDURES GOVERNING THE ELECTION OF LAWYER MEMBERS TO THE JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION 1. Article 7-B, Section 3, of the Oklahoma Constitution requires elections be held in each odd num bered year by Active members of the Oklahoma Bar Association to elect two members of the Judicial Nominating Commission for six year terms from Congressional Districts as such districts existed at

lawyer members are elected from each of the six congressional districts as they existed in 1967. (Congressional districts were redrawn in 2011.) Elections are held each odd-numbered year for members from two districts. 2023 ELECTIONS This year there will be elections for members in Districts 1 and 2. District 1 is composed of Creek and Tulsa counties. District 2 is composed of Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Nowata, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Rogers, Sequoyah, Wagoner and Washington counties. Lawyers desiring to be candi dates for the Judicial Nominating Commission positions have until May 19, 2023, at 5 p.m. to sub mit their nominating petitions. Members can download petition forms at www.okbar.org/jnc. When submitting a nominating petition, candidates should include a biog raphy of 100 words or less and a photo (preferably both digital). For additional details and a sample bio format, email Mark Schneidewent at marks@okbar.org. Ballots will be mailed June 2, 2023, to active attorneys in good standing in Congressional Districts 1 and 2, as they existed in 1967. Ballots must be received at

THE SELECTION OF QUALIFIED persons for appointment to the judiciary is of the utmost impor tance to the administration of justice in this state. Since the adop tion of Article 7-B to the Oklahoma Constitution in 1967, there has been significant improvement in the quality of the appointments to the bench. Originally, the Judicial Nominating Commission was involved in the nomination of justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Since the adoption of the amendment, the Legislature added the requirement that vacancies in all judgeships, appellate and trial, be filled by appointment of the governor from nominees submit ted by the Judicial Nominating Commission. The commission is composed of 15 members. There are six non-lawyers appointed by the governor, six lawyers elected by members of the bar, and three at large members, one selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; one selected by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and one selected by not less than eight members of the commission. All serve six-year terms, except the members at large who serve two-year terms. Members may not succeed them selves on the commission. The

36 | APRIL 2023

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL