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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Appeals Court Seats To Open

By Scott Sandlin
Journal Staff Writer
       Call it "Extreme Makeover: Court edition."
    Three of the 10 judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals are leaving in the next few months, meaning that by the time the court convenes in January, it will have a whole new look.
    Joseph Alarid, the longest-serving judge in the history of the court, ends his 25-year tenure as an appellate judge with his Dec. 31 retirement. Alarid also served as an Albuquerque Metro Court judge and a state district court judge.
    Lynn Pickard, an attorney specializing in appellate work and a former staff attorney to the court before joining the bench in 1991, is retiring this fall at a date still unspecified.
    And Ira Robinson, who has been on the court since 2000, is retiring effective Sept. 16 in an agreement negotiated with the Judicial Standards Commission, which sought his removal from office. His retirement, and an agreement to never seek a judicial office, was approved by the New Mexico Supreme Court this month.
    The Appellate Court Judicial Nominating Commission announced this week that it will accept applications until Sept. 26 for two of the vacancies — possibly three. The commission that meets to interview candidates in mid-October is expected to make recommendations for candidates to fill three vacancies. The governor makes the appointment from the list of recommended candidates.
    Because of the timing of the vacancies, appointees would not have to run for election until 2010.
    Alarid said that when he joined the court — then with seven judges — it was heavily weighted toward worker compensation and criminal cases. The number of members expanded to 10 in 1991, and its jurisdiction has expanded over the years, as well.
    Contract cases, for instance, were once handled exclusively by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
    But changes the last two decades have made the Court of Appeals a full-fledged intermediate court able to filter issues before they reach the Supreme Court, which now decides which cases to take.
    While criminal cases in which the penalty is life in prison or death automatically go to the Supreme Court, the bulk of criminal cases go to the Court of Appeals.
    Losing parties in civil and criminal cases under New Mexico law are entitled to one appeal, so district court cases go automatically to the appeals court, which has no discretion to turn them down. The bulk of the caseload is criminal.
    "Our jurisdictional split probably mirrors the caseload of the district courts," Alarid said.
    Changes in federal law have affected what happens in state court. The once-active area of class action lawsuits, for instance, is drying up because of federal legislation, Alarid said. But federal decisions in search-and-seizure law have sent litigants increasingly to state court, where state law offers greater protections.
    Because New Mexico has a relatively short history as a state and a small population has meant the courts work to fill in gaps in public policy or legislation.
    "It makes it a very interesting place to be a judge," Alarid said. "We get to take a fresh look at things we wouldn't be doing in more established jurisdictions."
    As a result, the job demands intellectual curiosity, acceptance of different views and philosophies and courage.
    "A good appellate judge has to be courageous, because the right answer isn't always the popular answer," he said.