To identify the Council's responsibility for establishing procedures which govern the activities of judicial nominating commissions.
To establish minimum procedural guidelines for commission activities.
Applicability:
This rule shall apply to the judiciary, judicial nominating commissions and judicial applicants.
Statement of the rule:
(1) The Council shall develop and adopt a manual of procedures to govern the activities of the judicial nominating commissions.
(2) The manual shall, at a minimum, comply with Title 20A, Chapter 11, Selection and Election of Judges, and provide for the following:
(A) A minimum recruitment period of 30 days and a procedure to extend that period for an additional 30 days, if fewer than nine applications are received for a judicial vacancy.
(B) Standards for maintaining the confidentiality of the records of the names of applicants, applications and related documents.
(C) Standards for destroying the records of the names of applicants, applications and related documents upon completion of the nominating process.
(D) An opportunity for public comment concerning the nominating process, qualifications for judicial office, and individual applicants.
(E) Evaluation criteria for the selection of judicial nominees.
(F) A voting procedure for screening applicants and selecting nominees.
(G) A procedure for taking summary minutes at Commission meetings.
(H) A procedure for simultaneously forwarding the names of the nominees to the Governor, the president of the Senate and the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.
(I) A procedure for conducting investigations of judicial applicants as the Commission considers advisable.
(J) Standards governing the disability and disqualification of commissioners.
(3) The Administrative Office shall serve as secretariat to the nominating commissions.
(4) Prior to final adoption by the Council, the procedure manual shall be distributed to the Governor's Office, the Utah State Bar Commission, and the Senate for a 45-day comment period.
(5) Upon final adoption and publication, the Administrative Office shall distribute copies of the procedure manual to the Governor's Office, the Senate, the Utah State Bar Commission, members of the judicial nominating commission and judicial applicants upon request.
(6) After a nominee has been appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, the Administrative Office shall request that each applicant provide recommendations for improving the judicial selection process. The Council shall consider the recommendations received, and may forward appropriate recommendations to the nominating commission(s).