Court Opinion

ID: 9513556
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:37:44.948616+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:54.385936
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring.
[¶ 33] I agree with the findings of the order and I reluctantly agree with the conclusion that the vacant judgeship be transferred from the Northwest to the East Central Judicial District. I write to explain my concern.
[¶ 34] During the Court’s consultation with the judges and attorneys of the affected judicial district on November 27, 2001, one of the participants urged us to first consider the need for the judgeship in the Northwest Judicial District and only if it is not needed in that district should we consider transfer to another district. Although this procedure appears logical, it ignores the reality that we are presently required to operate the judicial system with 42 trial judges and that the comparative needs of the districts must be considered when a vacancy occurs. I believe the Court’s order today does exactly that.
[¶ 35] Nevertheless, that comparative need must be kept in perspective, and it is this comparison which causes my concern. I have confidence in our weighted caseload statistics. I believe they generally reflect the need for judges in the State and in the districts, but they concededly contain some subjective measurements. They may not account for all the factors. For example, there may be an economy of scale of having all the judges in one location, such as in the East Central Judicial District, which is not offset by the travel-time adjustment for the other districts. The weighted caseload statistics are not, nor were they intended to be, precise mathematical measurements of need for judicial services. Therefore, when the “spread” in the need for judicial positions between the districts is as narrow as the current statistics reflect, I am not convinced there is a need to transfer the judgeship from the Northwest Judicial District. I suggest that the “spread” be greater than evidenced in this order before the Court considers the transfer on the basis of the weighted caseload statistics alone. Thus, if all other factors were nearly equal I would not vote to transfer this judgeship on the sole basis of the weighted caseload statistics.
[¶ 36] But, I agree with the findings that all other factors are not equal. The demographics clearly portend a greater need for future judgeships in the East Central Judicial District than in the Northwest and the Southeast Judicial Districts. These demographics include not only projected population trends but the age categories within that population. In each instance the inescapable conclusion is that the East Central Judicial District will have an increasing need for judges that exceeds the need of the Northwest Judicial District and the Southeast Judicial District. When that need would cause sufficient “spread” to satisfy my concern about the preciseness of the weighted caseload statistics I do not know. Nor do I know when or where the next vacancy which might be transferred will occur. If I could order the judgeship transferred some period of years in the future, assuming the continuation of the current trends, I would do so. The statutes do not permit — and perhaps should not permit — that solution. I therefore concur in the order transferring the judgeship from the Northwest Judicial District and I concur in the transfer to the East Central Judicial District.
[¶ 37] GERALD W. VANDE WALLE, C.J., concur.