|
|
|
|
Welcome to the Tuesday, February 11, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Incumbent state supreme court judges won re-election 93% of the time since 2008
- New Hampshire holds nation’s first presidential primary today
- Federal Register exceeds 7,000 pages so far in 2020
|
Incumbent state supreme court judges won re-election 93% of the time since 2008
The New Hampshire presidential primary takes place today but before I give you what you need to know for that race, we recently completed an analysis about state supreme courts that I just had to share.
First, the background. Every state, plus the District of Columbia, has at least one supreme court. These courts do not hear trials of cases. They hear appeals of the decisions made in the lower trial or appellate courts. Two states—Oklahoma and Texas—even have two courts of last resort, one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals. Much like the Supreme Court of the United States is top dog in the federal court system, each state has its own court of last resort.
But, how judges get on these courts varies depending on the state. Thirty-eight states hold elections—either partisan or non-partisan—to select or retain supreme court justices. Across all types, incumbent justices that ran for re-election won 93% of the time from 2008-2019.
During this period, no more than six incumbent justices lost their election in any given year. Only one year—2008—featured a re-election rate of incumbent state supreme court judges below 90%.
From 2008-2019, 11 states had at least one incumbent state supreme court justice lose their bid for re-election: Alabama, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. During this time, 27 states saw incumbent state supreme court judges win re-election 100% of the time.
Thirty-five states are holding state supreme court elections in 2020. Eighty-four of the nation’s 344 state supreme court seats are up for election.
Of these seats, at the start of 2020:
- 60 are held by non-partisan justices
- 17 are held by Republican justices
- Seven are held by Democratic justices
Twenty-nine states will hold their judicial elections on Nov. 3. Five states are holding judicial elections before that date—Arkansas on March 3, Wisconsin on April 7, West Virginia on May 12, and Georgia and Idaho on May 19. Louisiana’s judicial elections will take place on Dec. 5.
The map and table below detail which states are holding elections for supreme court seats in 2020. The darker shade of green a state appears on the map, the more seats are on the ballot. States shown in gray in the map are not holding supreme court elections in 2020.
|
|
New Hampshire holds nation’s first presidential primary today
New Hampshire holds the nation's second presidential nominating contest—and first presidential primary—today. Thirty-three Democratic candidates and 17 Republicans will appear on the ballot. In New Hampshire, a presidential candidate seeking the nomination of a major party must have filed a declaration of candidacy and paid a $1,000 filing fee by Nov. 15, 2019, to have his or her name printed on the primary ballot.
New Hampshire has held "first in the nation" status for presidential primary elections since 1920, at which time voters elected unpledged delegates to the national conventions. In 1952, the state began electing pledged delegates in primary elections. New Hampshire law requires that the secretary of state select a primary date “which is 7 days or more immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election.”
Both parties will use the primary results to proportionally allocate delegates to their national party conventions. New Hampshire allocates 24 pledged Democratic delegates and 22 Republican delegates.
In the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders finished first with 61% of the vote. Hillary Clinton received 38%. Sanders was allocated 15 delegates to Clinton’s nine.
President Donald Trump won the 2016 Republican primary in New Hampshire with 36% of the vote. John Kasich finished second with 16% and Ted Cruz was third with 12%. Trump was allocated 11 delegates, Kasich four, Cruz and Jeb Bush received three each and Marco Rubio was allocated one delegate.
Both parties’ primaries are semi-closed, meaning that only registered party members and unaffiliated voters can vote. Polls open at 11 a.m or earlier—depending on the municipality—and close at 7 p.m.
|
Federal Register exceeds 7,000 pages so far in 2020
From time to time I like to feature our coverage of the Federal Register here in the Brew. We track this regularly at Ballotpedia, but I haven’t provided an update so far in the new year.
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. We monitor page counts and other information about the Federal Register each week as part of our Administrative State Project.
Last week, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 1,288 pages, bringing the year-to-date total to 7,190 pages. During the same period in 2019 and 2018, the Federal Register reached 3,094 pages and 5,870 pages, respectively. As of Feb. 7, the 2020 total led the 2019 total by 4,096 pages and the 2018 total by 1,320 pages.
Under the Obama administration, the Federal Register averaged 6,686 pages after the first week of February.
This week’s Federal Register featured the following 566 documents:
- 458 notices
- eight presidential documents
- 40 proposed rules
- 60 final rules
One proposed rule and no final rules were deemed significant under E.O. 12866—meaning that they could have large impacts on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. Significant actions may also conflict with presidential priorities or other agency rules.
The Trump administration has added an average of 1,198 pages to the Federal Register each week in 2020 as of Feb. 7. It added an average of 1,369 pages to the Federal Register each week in 2019. Over the course of 2018, the Trump administration added an average of 1,301 pages each week. During the Obama administration, the Federal Register increased by an average of 1,658 pages per week.
Our Administrative State Project includes information about the administrative and regulatory activities of the United States government as well as concepts, laws, court cases, executive orders, scholarly work, and other material related to the administrative state.
You can get an introduction to some of these principles by taking one of our Learning Journeys, which give you a series of daily emails with information, examples, and exercises to help you broaden your knowledge of a particular concept. So far this year we debuted four new Learning Journeys—covering topics such as executive control, civil service, and executive reorganization authority. Click here to get started on one today.
And to stay up to date on actions at both the federal and state level related to rulemaking, the separation of powers, and due process, subscribe to our monthly Checks and Balances newsletter.
|
|
Ballotpedia depends on the support of our readers.
The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns.
|
|
|
|
|
