Court Opinion

ID: 9795534
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:30:52.990707+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:30:14.747275
License: Public Domain

Shearing, J.,
with whom Agosti, J., agrees, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree with the majority that Judge Mosley’s due process rights under the United States and Nevada Constitutions are not violated by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline’s combination of functions. However, I do not agree that the procedure used by the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Nevada for appointing alternate members to the Commission violates the Nevada Constitution.
Article 6, Section 21 of the Nevada Constitution provides:
2. The commission is composed of:
(a) two justices or judges appointed by the supreme court;
(b) two members of the State Bar of Nevada, a public corporation created by statute, appointed by its board of governors; and
(c) three persons, not members of the legal profession, appointed by the governor.
The Constitution does not discuss replacing attorneys who must recuse themselves for conflicts of interest or other reasons. The intent of Section 21 of Article 6 of the Nevada Constitution is *385clearly to have a certain balance of judges, attorneys and lay members to consider judicial discipline. We can also logically infer that the intent would certainly be that if an attorney has a conflict of interest, that attorney should not sit on the case. However, the Constitution does not specify a method for providing an alternate which is necessary in order to maintain the desired proportion of attorneys on the Commission. Therefore, the Board of Governors is free to choose a method of appointment for alternates. They have done so in this case.
The Board of Governors of the State Bar has chosen to appoint several attorney alternates so that there will be someone available to sit as the need arises. Nothing in the Constitution indicates that the Board cannot delegate the specific one-time selection of a member to a panel from among those appointed by the Board. There is absolutely nothing violative of the constitutional provisions in such appointments. On the contrary, it is fully in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It makes no sense to apply the provisions of the Constitution for replacement of permanent members of the Commission when a vacancy occurs to the one-time substitution of alternates. Those provisions simply do not apply. Nothing in the Constitution requires the Board to call a special meeting every time a conflict arises. Considering the schedules of busy attorneys, it makes eminent sense for the Board of Governors to name several alternates so that there will be someone available to sit as a case arises.
The alternates, Larry Hicks and Mahlon Brown, should be allowed to sit on the Commission as substitutes for the recused members of the Commission.