PHOENIX β Gov. Doug Ducey will have to select from five nominees to fill the new vacancy created on the Arizona Supreme Court by the retirement of Justice John Pelander.
The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments voted Friday to select just those five from the 11 people they interviewed.
Nominated are:
β’James Beene, a Republican, currently on the state Court of Appeals;
- Kent Cattani, also a Republican and also an appellate court judge;
- Maria Cruz, a Democrat serving on the appellate court;
- Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Gordon, a Republican;
- Andrew Jacobs, a Democrat lawyer in private practice.
By law, Ducey has 60 days from getting the list to choose from one of the nominees. If he does not, the pick goes to Scott Bales, the chief justice of the court.
The appointment will mean Ducey will have chosen four members of the seven-member court.
Ducey selected Clint Bolick, a political independent who had been working for the libertarian Goldwater Institute as his first pick in 2016.
But he got two more shots at shaping the court later that year, naming Republican John Lopez IV and Andrew Gould. Pelander said there were personal reasons for him to step aside now.
