For would-be judges, many jobs up for grabs

Sam Skolnik

Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 | 7:26 a.m.

In Clark County, citizens are served by Municipal Court judges, who handle most basic misdemeanor and traffic cases; justices of the peace, who deal with preliminary matters in felony and gross misdemeanor cases; District Court judges, including Family Court judges, who preside over felony and gross misdemeanor trials and family law cases; and Nevada Supreme Court justices. All are elected to six-year terms.

Depending on where you live, you may be asked to choose as many as 41 judges next year:

And all Clark County voters will be able to vote:

Finally, two Supreme Court justices, Bill Maupin and Mark Gibbons, will be up for reelection.

Although Election Day is 15 months away, the jockeying for Clark County judgeships has begun in earnest.

That may be because a whopping 41 judicial seats in the county, plus two state Supreme Court seats, will be open.

The decisions about which judges will be running for reelection - and which lawyers and other judges may challenge them - must all be hashed out by mid-January, the earlier filing deadline imposed by the 2007 Legislature.

Historically, 60 percent of state judges run unopposed for their six-year terms. But even if that holds true next year, voters will be expected to weigh the merits of judicial candidates in more than 15 races.

Several lawyers in the valley, and even judges who may be vying for different judicial posts, are saying quietly they're trying to figure out which seat gives them the best chance to win.

A number of interesting subplots are developing:

If Halverson is still serving and is able to run for reelection, she could attract six or more challengers, informed courthouse sources say.

Halverson did not respond to an interview request made to one of her attorneys.

Nancy Allf, a Las Vegas attorney and the new president of the State Bar of Nevada, says she considered joining those planning to run against Halverson. But she said it's more likely that she'll run for one of the open District Court seats.

"I want it to be about why I should be a judge and not why someone else shouldn't be," Allf said.

Long time Las Vegas defense lawyer JoNell Thomas was until recently one of those weighing a bid. Her erstwhile target was Mosley, a tough law-and-order judge who's been on the bench longer than any other judge in the state.

But Thomas recently landed a job with the special public defender's office as an appellate lawyer working on death-row and other murder cases. It's a dream job, she says, so she has decided not to run.

Most District Court judges in Clark County are elected on the same cycle, in part so they are affected equally by pay raises approved by the Legislature.

Next year all 24 "civil/criminal" District Court judges will be up for reelection, and there will be an election for one more new seat created by the Legislature to deal with heavy judicial work load issues. In Family Court, seven judges will be up for reelection, and there will be races for five new seats.

In addition, there will be elections for four justices of the peace, including two seats in Henderson and one each in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.

It is unclear whether Supreme Court Justices Bill Maupin and Mark Gibbons will have challengers in their bids for reelection.

According to some court-watchers, Gibbons - one of six justices who signed on to the highly unpopular Guinn v. Legislature decision in 2003, in which the court shelved the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds majority vote on taxes - is the more likely of the two to face a fight.

Maupin, the high court's chief justice, was the lone dissenter in Guinn.

If Linda Bell were to win the District Court seat soon to be vacated by her father, it wouldn't be the first time a daughter succeeded her father on the bench. In 2002 Michelle Leavitt was appointed to the same judicial department that had been held by her father, Myron Leavitt, the late Supreme Court justice.

The coming judicial elections will be unique in one sense - and, some say, greatly improved.

They will be the first judicial races held under the state law passed this year designed to reduce the effects of campaign donations on such elections.

The law moves up the filing deadline for judicial candidates from May to January during election years, and prohibits those running unopposed from doing any fundraising for their campaigns.