The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission has sent the names of three finalists for the Court of Appeals vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Carr Darden to Gov. Mitch Daniels. They are: Marion Superior Court Judge Robert Altice, Madison Circuit Court Judge Rudolph Pyle, III and Patricia Caress McMath, an attorney with the Marion Co. Public Defender's Office. There were only 14 applicants who applied for the vacancy. The Indiana Law Blog has done an excellent job covering the selection process. If you want more information on these finalists, including the applications they submitted and information about their interviews, click on the following links to the Indiana Law Blog:
Robert Altice click here
Rudolph Pyle click here
Patricia Caress McMath click here
It's interesting that having an average GPA is apparently no impediment to advancing to the Court of Appeals. McMath has the highest GPA at 2.97 (Maurer School of Law). Pyle's GPA was 2.76 (Maurer School of Law). Altice had the lowest GPA at 2.731 (University of Missouri). None of the finalists disclosed their class rank on their applications. I'm glad that the Indiana Law Blog is providing some transparency to the selection process. The mainstream media sure isn't making any effort to enlighten the public on this process.
I would hope that after years of practicing law, one's law school GPA would have become a non-statistic for achievement-based benchmark purposes.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama does not have to provide college/law school transcripts in order to be president, but all applicants for the Indiana Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are required to provide that information and it is a matter of public. The Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission has determined that the information is relevant to a person's qualifications, which is why they require all applicants to furnish this information.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I would rather know things like how many times it took them to pass the bar, positive ID that they took the bar themselves, how much tutoring they needed to pass the bar. Practical stuff, like. lol
ReplyDeleteAs to one's GPA, perhaps it is relevant to becoming a judge, perhaps it isn't.
It's like most measurable statistics. Limited in real value, but discoverable.
The application the candidates file for consideration contains plenty of information that the Commission needs to weigh their qualificaitons beyond their GPA. That's why I linked to the Indiana Law Blog where you can access those documents. The ILB is performing a very valuable public service that the mainstream media fails to perform.
ReplyDeleteVery true.
ReplyDelete