AJS Conducts Judicial Nominating Commissioner Training Sessions

“The development of a nonpartisan plan for selecting judges is among the American Judicature Society’s chief accomplishments. As a result of AJS activity in the last six decades, three-fifths of the states use a merit plan to select some or all of their judges. A key component of any merit plan is a nominating commission composed of both lawyers and nonlawyers. Traditionally, commission members come from various walks of life and begin their terms knowing little about their new duties and responsibilities. Often, commissioners have to learn as they go.” (Preface, Handbook for Judicial Nominating Commissioners, 2d Edition.) 

In July 2007 AJS staff conducted judicial nominating commission training sessions in the states of Hawaii and Missouri. During 2006 AJS presented training for judicial nominating commissioners as well in Iowa, Kansas, and Indiana. AJS nominating commission training stresses a best practices approach to allow commissioners to reflect on their procedures and consider whether adjustments might improve their own experience and the applicants’ and public’s perception of the reliability of the process.  Training sessions encourage commissioners to engage in frank discussions about a range of issues, from confidentiality concerns to attempted political influences on the nominating process. 

The training curriculum is drawn primarily from the AJS Handbook for Judicial Nominating Commissioners, originally published in 1984 but updated with the release of a second edition in 2004. The need for a second edition of the Handbook arose from AJS’s observation of increasingly sophisticated procedures adopted by various commissions. AJS convened an advisory committee of experts on the nominating process and canvassed existing commissions’ procedural and ethics rules and applicant questionnaires. AJS also utilized research on modern business interviewing techniques to bolster the chapter on interviewing candidates, which is at the heart of commission responsibility and procedures. The second edition, in addition to including new chapters on ethics and privacy and confidentiality, presents a new section on the impact on the nominating process of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The standard training protocol is designed for all-day sessions but can be modified for shorter half-day training programs. The Handbook curriculum is organized in eight segments. The first two sections address concepts common to all aspects of commission work—ethics and confidentiality and privacy concerns. The remaining training segments entail a step-by-step exploration of the commission process. The eight Handbook chapters are:

1. Commission Ethics;
2. Confidentiality and Privacy;
3. The Organizational Meeting;
4. Notice of Vacancy and Recruitment;
5. Evaluative Criteria;
6. Screening and Investigation;
7. Interviewing the Candidates;
8. Voting and Submitting Names of Nominees.

The Handbook can be ordered online at http://www.ajs.org/cart/storefront.asp, or individual chapters can be downloaded at http://www.ajs.org/js/materials.htm. 

For more information on AJS judicial nominating commission training, or to request a training session for your state, please contact Tim Eckley, AJS Staff Attorney, at 515/271-2288 or teckley@ajs.org; or Malia Reddick, AJS Director of Research and Programs, at 515/271-2287, or mreddick@ajs.org.