13 Marion County Judges to Interview for Their Jobs

(INDIANAPOLIS) – 13 Marion County judges have to reinterview for their jobs next month.

Legislators changed the law in 2017 to make Marion County the fourth in Indiana to appoint judges instead of electing them. A 14-member commission will interview candidates to replace three retiring judges in May. But the judges who aren’t retiring have to go before the commission next month. 

Supreme Court Justice Mark Massa, who chairs the commission, says after this year, only candidates for vacancies will go through the interview process. But the law required incumbents to appear before the commission in their first bid for another term. That covers half the county’s 32 Superior Court judges — the other half went through the process two years ago.

The panel issues a public statement on whether it recommends another term for the judge — voters make the final decision in a yes-or-no retention vote in November. In 2018, the commission approved all 13 incumbents on the ballot, and voters agreed.

Judges Marilyn Moores, David Dreyer and Barbara Crawford didn’t file for reelection. Attorneys in Marion County have until the end of March to apply for one of the vacancies. The commission will conduct those interviews in May, and send Governor Holcomb separate lists of three finalists for each of the three seats. Holcomb will make the final appointment. 

The law requires the bench to be evenly balanced between Republicans and Democrats. Moores is the only Republican among this year’s three retirees, so Republican applicants will be applying for her seat, while the commission will send Holcomb two separate lists of Democrats for the other two.

Legislators switched to appointed judges for Marion County after a federal court threw out the county’s old system, in which each party nominated a 16-candidate slate in the primary, leaving the 32 winners essentially unopposed in November.

(Photo: Brian A. Jackson/Thinkstock)