According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s unofficial election results (as of 2:01 a.m. this morning), Chief Judge Barbara Vigil of the First Judicial District Court has been elected to the New Mexico Supreme Court, defeating current Justice Paul Kennedy with 402,777 votes to 333,863.
Judge Monica Zamora of the Second Judicial District Court likewise won election to the Court of Appeals, with 402,812 votes to Judge J. Miles Hanisee’s 324,759.
Congratulations to Judge Vigil and Judge Zamora!
And finally, according to this story in the Albuquerque Journal, the voters retained Justice Richard Bosson, and Judges Roderick Kennedy and Michael Vigil.
Prominent Albuquerque attorney Paul Kennedy served on the New Mexico Supreme Court in 2002, and was appointed to serve on the Court again by Governor Susana Martinez earlier this year. He is running as the Republican nominee to keep his seat in next week’s general election (you can find his campaign website here). I talked with him yesterday in Santa Fe:
Q. I’m here with Justice Paul Kennedy to talk to him about his campaign for the New Mexico Supreme Court. Thank you for talking with me today, Justice Kennedy.
A. Thanks for coming over, it’s a pleasure having you.
Q. Tell us about your family and background before going to law school.
A. Before I went to law school I grew up, basically, in the Philadelphia area. I am the oldest of thirteen children, eleven boys and two girls. No twins in that mix. I went to college, and after I got out of college I enlisted in the Marine Corps, served a hitch in the Marine Corps, and after that I went to law school on the GI Bill. Continue reading →
Chief Judge Barbara Vigil (photo used with permission)
Today I spoke with Chief Judge Barbara Vigil, the Democratic candidate for the seat on the New Mexico Supreme Court that was vacated in August by Justice Patricio Serna. You can find her campaign website here.
Q. It’s November 1, and I’m talking with Chief Judge Barbara Vigil, who is the Democratic candidate for the New Mexico Supreme Court. Thank you for talking with me this afternoon.
A. You’re welcome. My pleasure.
Q. Tell us about your family and background before going to law school.
A. I was born in Albuquerque and raised in Santa Fe, and I spent some time early in my life in Taos, New Mexico. I started third grade in Santa Fe, and attended Catholic school.
At the age of 12, my mother passed away suddenly with an aneurism, and left six young children. My father was forced to raise the children as a single parent. I have four sisters and one brother, and my father sent all of his daughters to St. Catherine’s, which is a boarding school for Native American children. Continue reading →
The Santa Fe Reporter, a weekly alternative newspaper in the City Different, has endorsed Justice Paul Kennedy for the New Mexico Supreme Court, and Judge J. Miles Hanisee for the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
Good news! The Tenth Circuit has announced that it will be holding a Judicial Conference on August 28-31, 2013 at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs.
I was fortunate enough to attend the last Tenth Circuit conference in 2010, which featured some terrific speakers, such as U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The conference also provides the opportunity to get to know federal judges, and fellow lawyers, from throughout the Circuit. It is well worth attending.
The Tenth Circuit had contemplated holding another Judicial Conference in 2012, but it was cancelled, apparently for budgetary reasons. I’m glad to see that the Court has decided to give it a go in 2013.
UPDATE (June 4, 2013): The Tenth Circuit Conference’s official website, where you can find information about registration and accommodations, is at www.tenthcircuitconference.org.
The Taos News has released its political endorsements for 2012, and has endorsed the Judge Miles Hanisee, the Republican nominee for the New Mexico Court of Appeals, whose family moved to Taos when he was a teenager. The paper has also recommended that Justice Richard Bosson, Judge Michael Vigil, and Judge Roderick Kennedy all be retained.
The article does not, however, contain any endorsement in the New Mexico Supreme Court race. I don’t know if the editors overlooked the race or decided not to endorse either candidate.
Barry Massey of the Associated Press had this story in the Santa Fe New Mexican about all four candidates for the New Mexico appellate court seats that are up for election.
I have previously linked to the campaign websites for Judges Vigil, Hanisee, and Zamora, but despite some diligent Google searches, I had not found one for Justice Kennedy. But as Barry Massey’s story indicates, Justice Kennedy’s site can be found at www.paulkennedy4supremecourt.com. Be sure to check it out.
The New Mexico Court of Appeals has issued several interesting opinions this week. I hope to have time to discuss some of them next week, but here is a list so that you can decide which ones to take home for your weekend leisure reading:
Frederick v. Sun 1031, LLC. Holding, in an opinion by Judge Wechsler, that a trial court erred by not dismissing an inadequately pled third-party complaint, and also erred by granting a motion to compel arbitration.
State v. Leon. The Court heard an appeal from a probation revocation despite the fact that it was untimely filed, and affirmed. The majority opinion was written by Judge Vanzi, with a special concurrence by Judge Garcia.
State v. Sotelo. Upholding a defendant’s convictions for kidnapping, battery on a household member, and witness intimidation. Judge Bustamante wrote the opinion.
M.R. v. SereniCare Funeral Home, L.L.C. Holding that New Mexico lacked personal jurisdiction over a Utah funeral home that allegedly placed a deceased man’s brain in a bag and handed it to his relatives. The opinion is by Judge Fry, with a dissent by Judge Garcia. This case has attracted national attention due to its gruesome facts – e.g.this story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gomez v. Jones-Wilson. Holding that a plaintiff did not give his attorney authority to settle a claim. The opinion is by Judge Fry.
Yesterday I talked with Judge Monica Zamora of the Second Judicial District Court, who is the Democratic nominee for this year’s election to the New Mexico Court of Appeals. You can find her campaign website here.
Q. I’m here with District Court Judge Monica Zamora, the Democratic candidate for the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Thank you for being here today.
A. Thank you for having me.
Q. Tell us about your family and background before going to law school.
A. Okay, I was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when Santa Fe was still small. I went to school at Gonzales Elementary, junior high at Harrington Junior High, which my kids get a big kick out of, because the school is no longer standing. I can’t remember if they eventually made it into a park or a parking lot. Which is great, because now [my kids think] I’m 100 years old instead of my real age.
I attended St. Michael’s High School, I graduated in 1979. If there’s anything I can take away from growing up, it was the sense of community that my parents had instilled in all of us – there’s five children – we were involved in, the boys were involved in Boy Scouts, I was involved in Girl Scouts, we did a lot of community service work. My mom and a group of her friends were responsible for cleaning the church, and helping the parish priest with various activities. We volunteered for church activities. So there was a lot of community involvement.
When, after graduating from St. Michael’s High School, I went on to Fort Lewis College up in Durango, and I graduated from there in 1982. Continue reading →
Yesterday I talked with Judge J. Miles Hanisee of the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Judge Hanisee was appointed to a seat on the Court by Governor Susana Martinez in 2011, and is the Republican nominee for that seat in this year’s general election. I hope you will find this interview to be informative, and I hope to be posting some more interviews in the near future.
UPDATE: If you would like to find out more information about Judge Hanisee’s campaign, his campaign website is here.
Questions appear below in italics, and Judge Hanisee’s responses follow in plain text:
Q.It is Monday, October 22, and I’m here at the New Mexico Court of Appeals with Judge Miles Hanisee to ask him a few questions regarding his race for the Court of Appeals.
A. Sure. My pleasure. Let me congratulate you on your new blog. It’s nicely laid out and I enjoy looking at it.
Q. Thanks! Tell us about your family and background before going to law school.
A. Okay, well I was born in New Orleans, raised until I was 17 just outside of New Orleans. At that time my family announced to us that we were relocating to Taos, New Mexico, and my mom’s lived there ever since. My family headed that way, and I went to Louisiana State University, and then I came out west, and kept going, to Pepperdine University School of Law. The day I graduated my U-Haul was packed to come here to New Mexico to take the bar. That was in 1994, and I have practiced law here ever since. I’m married, my wife’s a social worker in the Albuquerque Public Schools. We have twin 10-year old children. Continue reading →
