Columns

GREAT NEWS FOR IDAHO JUDICIARY: EISMANN NEW CHIEF JUSTICE

Posted on: June 29, 2007

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director Idaho Values Alliance

In a piece of very good news for those of us who believe in judicial restraint, the rule of law, and originalist judges, Dan Eismann has been selected by his fellow justices to be the new Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court.

Eismann has proven to be a judge who respects the original intent of the framers of the Idaho State Constitution and the legislative intent of laws passed by the state legislature, and will be a force for judicial responsibility on our state’s highest court.

The Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court also heads up the Idaho Judicial Council (IJC), the unelected committee that screens applicants for the high court when a justice retires before his term is up. Justice Eismann will assume leadership of the IJC on August 1, well before the IJC conducts interviews for Justice Trout’s replacement.

This raises the possibility that the interview process this time around may actually involve quizzing candidates regarding the judicial philosophy they would bring to the bench, a dynamic that was virtually absent in the interview process that led to Warren Jones appointment to replace retiring Chief Justice Gerald Schroeder.

Although Mr. Jones may make a fine justice, the public has no way of knowing that since we know next to nothing about whether he thinks of our state constitution as a living document whose interpretation must change along with changes in culture, or whether he regards its meaning as fixed and something to be followed as mariners navigate by the North Star.

Justice Eismann will be one of only two members of the Idaho Supreme Court to gain his position on the bench by being elected to it, as the constitution directs. The other three – 60% of the Supreme Court – will have initially reached the bench through appointment rather than election.

With Chief Justice Eismann in charge of the interview process this time around, we hope to know more about the kind of justice the next appointee will make.

The IVA is preparing a fresh edition of our “Citizen Information” questionnaire, and it will be sent to each applicant for Justice Trout’s position. The deadline for applications for her position is July 2.

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