Change Coming to the Court of Appeals of Indiana

Judge Kirsch announced his retirement this fall from the Court of Appeals of Indiana. Rumor has it that Judge Najam will follow suit next summer. After the retirement of Judge Baker, the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission handled its selection process virtually and provided us the ability to watch the process via livestream. I hope the Commission will do so again.

Currently, there is a resolution in the Indiana General Assembly to amend the process by which appellate judges are selected and retained. Currently, the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission interviews applicants and submits three names to the Governor, who has a specified period of time within which to select from those three names. Thereafter, Hoosier vote to retain (or not) appellate judges. The resolution, Indiana Senate Joint Resolution No. 16, would remove all retention power from Hoosiers and transfer it to the House of Representatives.