Arizona Supreme Court Justices Bolick And King Survive Competitive Challenges To Retention
By Daniel Stefanski |
Two Arizona State Supreme Court justices survived competitive challenges to their retention to the judicial bench.
On Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King won their retention elections. Both individuals had faced heightened challenges to their future service on the court.
Justice Bolick received 58.36% of the vote to retain, while Justice King obtained 59.43% to retain.
Bolick issued a statement after the outcome of his race was known, saying, “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve on the USA’s best state supreme court for another three years. I am beyond grateful for your votes, your support, and your prayers. This was so important to win to preserve an independent judiciary in AZ, and it appears we did so decisively. I couldn’t have better friends and colleagues!!”
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry posted a statement of support for the results of these two elections. Its account wrote, “Congratulations to Arizona Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King on overwhelmingly being retained by Arizona voters despite partisan attempts to remove them from the bench. The Chamber was pleased to support these fair-minded and independent jurists.”
Bolick and King were appointed by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Bolick received his appointment to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2016, while King obtained hers in 2021. Both justices served in the private sector as attorneys prior to making their journey to the state court.
According to the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review (JPR), both Bolick and King received extremely high marks to meet the standards on the merits of their decisions. The Commission “exists to provide meaningful and accurate information to the public for its use in voting on the justices and judges appointed to the bench through merit selection.” In his average of all evaluation categories, Bolick acquired 97% or greater. King had 90% and over for her categories. The JPR is used for voter recommendations for each cycle’s judicial retention elections.
For most voters in Arizona, judicial retention contests are often met with more apathy than any other selection(s) on their ballots. In recent elections, however, outside groups have put more of a target on judges for increased voter scrutiny, leading to the addition of Bolick and King with this year’s ballot choices. This was Bolick’s second retention election and King’s first.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.