Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012 | noon
Three Nevada Supreme Court justices kicked off the official political season today, becoming the first candidates to file for re-election.
Chief Justice Nancy Saitta, 60, and Justices Michael Cherry, 67, and Michael Douglas, 63, submitted their candidacy to the Secretary of State and they have no announced opponents so far.
The trio said they would push again for creation of a court of appeals to handle the growing cases being submitted to the court. The annual report of the Supreme Court shows 2,395 cases were filed in fiscal year 2011, compared with 2,266 in fiscal 2010 and 2,152 in fiscal 2009.
Voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment in 2010 for an intermediate court of appeals, 51.1 percent to 46.8 percent. It lost in every county except Clark.
Saitta and Cherry will be seeking their second-six year term. Douglas, the first black Supreme Court justice, has served eight years on the seven-member court. Saitta will continue to serve as chief justice for another eight months, and then Cherry will take over as head of the court for eight months.
The justices said the number of district judges had increased, which added to the number of appeals. Also, they said, the issue of foreclosure has grown in Nevada's depressed economy.
"We are trying to make it more efficient in this mean economy," Douglas said.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy