Opinion ID: 1861044
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Chief Judge.

Text: (1) The chief judge shall be a circuit judge who possesses administrative ability. (2) The chief judge shall exercise administrative supervision over all courts within the judicial circuit in the exercise of judicial powers and over the judges and officers of the courts, and shall be responsible to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The chief judge may enter administrative orders over his signature except as provided otherwise by this rule. (3) The chief judge shall be the chief judicial officer of the circuit and shall maintain liaison in all judicial administrative matters with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He shall develop an administrative plan for the efficient and proper administration of all courts within his circuit and submit them to the Chief Justice. The plan shall include an administrative organization capable of effecting the prompt disposition of cases, assignment of judges and other court officers, including executive assistants, control of dockets, regulation and use of courtrooms and mandatory periodic review of the status of the inmates of the county jail. The plan shall be compatible with the development of the capabilities of the judges in such a manner that each judge will be qualified to serve in any division, thereby creating a judicial pool from which judges may be assigned to various courts throughout the state. The administrative plan shall include a consideration of the statistical data developed by the case reporting system. Questions concerning the administration or management of the courts of the circuit shall be directed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court through the state courts administrator. (4) The chief judge shall assign judges to the courts and divisions, and shall determine the length of each assignment. All judges shall inform the chief judge of any contemplated absences that will affect the progress of the court's business. If a judge is temporarily absent, is disqualified in an action or is unable to perform his duties, the chief judge or his designee may assign a proceeding pending before the judge to any other judge or any additional assigned judge of the same court. The chief judge may assign any judge to temporary service for which the judge is qualified in any court in the same circuit. If it appears to the chief judge that the speedy, efficient and proper administration of justice so requires, he shall request the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to temporarily assign an additional judge or judges from outside the circuit to duty in the court requiring assistance. He shall advise the Chief Justice whether or not he has the approval of the chief judge of the circuit from which the assignment is to be made. The assigned judges shall be subject to administrative supervision of the chief judge for all purposes of this rule. Nothing in this rule shall restrict the constitutional powers of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to make such assignments as he shall deem appropriate. (5) The chief judge may designate a judge in any court or court division of circuit or county courts as Administrative Judge of any court or division to assist with the administrative supervision of the court or division. The designee shall be responsible to the chief judge, shall have the power and duty to carry out the responsibilities assigned to him by the chief judge and shall serve at the pleasure of the chief judge. (6) The chief judge may require the attendance of prosecutors, public defenders, clerks, bailiffs and other officers of the courts, and may require from the clerks of the courts, sheriffs or other officers of the courts, periodic reports that he deems necessary. (7) The chief judge shall regulate the use of courtrooms, regularly examine the dockets of the courts under his administrative supervision and require a report on the status of the actions on the dockets and take such action as may be necessary to cause the dockets to be made current. (8) The chief judge or his designee shall regularly examine the status of every inmate of the county jail. (9) The chief judge may authorize the clerks of courts to maintain branch county court facilities. When so authorized clerks of court shall be permitted to retain in such branch court facilities all county court permanent records of pending or undisposed of cases and may retain and destroy these records in the manner provided by law. (c) Selection. The chief judge shall be chosen by a majority of the circuit judges, or if there is no majority, by the Chief Justice, for a term of two years. A chief judge may be removed as chief judge by the Supreme Court sitting as the administrative supervisory body of all courts. The purpose of this rule is to fix a two-year cycle for the selection of chief judge in each circuit. A chief judge may serve for successive terms. If a chief judge is to be temporarily absent, he shall select an acting chief judge from among the circuit judges. If a chief judge dies, retires, fails to appoint an acting chief judge dies, retires, fails to appoint an acting chief judge during an absence, or is unable to perform his duties, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall appoint a circuit judge to act as chief judge during the absence or disability or until a successor chief judge is elected to serve the unexpired term. When the office of chief judge is temporarily vacant pending action within the scope of this paragraph, the duties of court administration shall be performed by the circuit judge having the longest continuous service as a judge or by another circuit judge designated by him. (d) Executive Assistant. An executive assistant may be selected by a majority of the circuit judges and shall perform such duties as the chief judge may direct.