DES MOINES, IOWA (September 17, 2019) — The State Judicial Nominating Commission, which is responsible for selecting nominees for appointment to the Iowa Court of Appeals, announced today it will begin accepting applications for the vacancy that will occur when Judge Amanda Potterfield retires December 25, 2019. The Commission received notice of the vacancy from Governor Reynolds on September 3, 2019. The Commission has sixty days to send a slate of nominees to the Governor, who makes appointments to the court.
The deadline for applications to be received by the Commission and the Commissioners to be considered for balloting is 11:59PM on Friday, October 11, 2019. Any citizen may submit in writing to the Secretary of the Commission, or to any Commissioner via e-mail at the e-mail addresses listed on the State Judicial Nominating Commission website and also, listed below, the names of persons for consideration as a candidate for nomination and express views concerning such candidate. For comments regarding an applicant to be considered by the Commission, communications from the public must be received by the Commissioners via e-mail by 11:59PM on Friday, October 25, 2019. Comments regarding an applicant made for previous vacancies will not be considered by the Commission. Applications can be obtained on the State Judicial Nominating Commission website at the website address listed above or from the State Court Administrator at 1111 E Court Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50319.
Once the application time has run, the Commission will release the names of all applicants along with information about each applicant's background, experience, and qualifications. This list and other information about the Commission and Iowa's merit selection process will be available on the Iowa Judicial Branch website.
The Commission plans to meet Tuesday, October 29, 2019 and Wednesday, October 30, 2019, to interview applicants and select three nominees to submit to the Governor for appointment. The meeting will be in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Judicial Branch Building, 1111 East Court Avenue, Des Moines. The interview portion of the meeting is open to the public and will be streamed live and archived on the Iowa Judicial Branch YouTube channel.
The 17-member Commission is composed of eight commissioners elected by lawyers licensed to practice law in Iowa and nine commissioners appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Iowa Senate.
Important Notice to Applicants: To be eligible for appointment to the court, a person must be a resident of Iowa, licensed to practice law in Iowa, and must be of such age that he or she will be able to serve an initial and one regular term of office before reaching the age of 72. To be considered for balloting, an applicant must e-mail his or her application and supporting materials to the Commission via e-mail to sjnc@iowa.gov and to each member of the Commission at the e-mail addresses listed below so that the application and supporting materials are received by the Commission and Commissioners by 11:59PM on Friday October 11, 2019. The candidates for nomination must e-mail to the Commission and all Commissioners a PDF version of the completed Application forms and a PDF version of any writing samples and other attachments to the Application.
The names and e-mail addresses of the State Judicial Nominating Commission members are:
Chairperson
Trish Roberts, Carroll, Iowa; trroberts@hotmail.com
Secretary Kathleen Law, Des Moines, Iowa; kklaw@nyemaster.com
Commissioners Steve Berger 319-461-4109 berger@netins.net
Henry Bevel 319-232-6555 bevel@s-c-law.com
John Bloom 515-494-7458 john.bloom52@gmail.com
Christine Conover 319-366-7641 cconover@simmonsperrine.com
Jeff Goodman 515-267-8600 Jeff.scjnc@gmail.com
John Gray 712-255-8838 john.gray@heidmanlaw.com
Lance Horbach 641-751-8050 lance.horbach@insurecentraliowa.com
Dan Huitink 641-629-6630 huitinksjnc@gmail.com
Kathleen Law 515-283-3116 kklaw@nyemaster.com
Dorothy O’Brien 563-355-6060 dao@emprights.com
Kathy Pearson (c) 319-350-4604; 319-366-4451 kpearson@kaas-emp.com
Trish Roberts (c) 712-830-9912 trroberts@hotmail.com
Helen Sinclair 319-361-6661 hsinclair@moes.biz
Leon Spies 319-337-4193 Spies@Spaflegal.com
Kristina Stanger 515-283-8009 kmstanger@nyemaster.com
Steve Sukup (c) 515-238-6563; (w) 641-892-4222 steve@sukup.com
Janece M. Valentine 515-955-5544 Jvalentine@Valentinelaw.net
