1. Two state supreme court appointments, one retirement announced
2. Trump administration misses 2-to-1 deregulatory goal in 2019
3. Steyer leads Democratic presidential campaigns in Ballotpedia pageviews for second consecutive week

Two state supreme court appointments, one retirement announced

Every state—and the District of Columbia—has at least one supreme court that issues final and binding rulings about cases involving state law. Oklahoma and Texas both have two such courts—one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals. Altogether, there are 344 state supreme court judges nationwide.

So when our tracking and analysis of state supreme courts come out, I’m always eager to share it with our Brew readers. We recently saw two state supreme court appointments in Vermont and Washington and one retirement announcement in Georgia.

Vermont

• Governor Phil Scott (R) nominated Judge William "Bill" Cohen to succeed Marilyn Skoglund—who retired on Sept. 1—as a justice on the Vermont Supreme Court. Cohen was Gov. Phil Scott's (R) second nominee to the five-member court. If Cohen is confirmed, three of the court’s justices will have been appointed by Republican governors. The other two have been appointed by a Democratic governor.

• Selection of state supreme court justices in Vermont occurs through gubernatorial appointment with state Senate confirmation. A judicial nominating commission submits a list of names to the governor, who then selects an appointee. The Vermont State Senate must also confirm the appointment. Approved nominees serve for six years, at which point they face retention by a vote of the Vermont General Assembly.

Washington

• Governor Jay Inslee (D) appointed Judge Raquel Montoya-Lewis to succeed Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst on the Washington Supreme Court. Fairhurst is retiring on January 5, 2020, for health reasons. Montoya-Lewis is Inslee's second nominee to the nine-member supreme court. Six judges on the court were originally elected in nonpartisan elections and three were initially appointed by Democratic governors.

• In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement to the Washington Supreme Court. The appointee serves until the next general election, at which point he or she may run to serve for the remainder of the predecessor's term. The nine justices of the supreme court compete in contested elections without reference to party affiliation and must run for re-election when their terms expire. Supreme court justices serve for six years.

Georgia

• Last week, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham announced his plans to retire on March 1, 2020. Benham's term was set to expire on December 31, 2020; his seat was one of four expected to be up for election in May 2020. Due to his early retirement, Gov. Kemp will appoint a successor. That successor will not need to run for election until 2022.

• Selection of state supreme court justices in Georgia occurs through nonpartisan election of judges; however, the governor appoints judges with the help of a nomination commission in the event of a midterm vacancy. Benham’s replacement will be Governor Brian Kemp’s (R) first nominee to the nine-member supreme court. Judges serve six-year terms. 

In 2019, there have been 22 supreme court vacancies across 14 of the 29 states where replacement justices are appointed instead of elected. Retirements caused 14 of the vacancies. Two former justices took jobs in the private sector. One vacancy occurred when a justice was elevated to chief justice of the court, one when a chief justice died, and four others when the justices were elevated to federal judicial positions.

In 2020, there will be two state supreme court vacancies in two of the 29 states where replacement justices are appointed instead of elected. Retirements caused the vacancies. One vacancy occurred in a state where a Republican governor appoints the replacement with the help of a nomination commission, and the other was in a state where a Democratic governor appoints the replacement with the help of a nomination commission.

       

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Trump administration misses 2-to-1 deregulatory goal in 2019

Right after his inauguration, President Trump instituted a new regulatory policy that requires federal agencies to eliminate two old regulations for each new regulation issued. Last week, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) found the ratio of significant deregulatory to significant regulatory actions in 2019 was 1.7- to-1. 

At the end of the 2017 fiscal year, OIRA reported that agencies issued 67 applicable deregulatory actions and three regulatory actions—for a ratio of 22-to-1. Following the 2018 fiscal year, OIRA reported that agencies issued 57 applicable deregulatory actions and 14 regulatory actions for a ratio of 4-to-1.  

Though the requirement only applies to significant regulations—those with an economic impact of $100 million or more—the update includes information about the administration’s overall deregulatory efforts.  

OIRA’s update included the following notes regarding the 2019 fiscal year: 

• Agencies accrued $13.5 billion in savings from 150 deregulatory actions.

• Sixty-one deregulatory actions were deemed significant.

• Agencies issued 35 significant regulatory actions.

Looking ahead to the 2020 fiscal year, OIRA anticipates that agencies will accrue $51 billion in regulatory cost savings. OIRA reported that agencies have eliminated $50.9 billion in regulatory costs since 2017.

Steyer leads Democratic presidential campaigns in Ballotpedia pageviews for second consecutive week

After Kamala Harris ended her presidential campaign last week, 15 Democratic elected officials and notable public figures remain in the presidential race. We track and report the number of views candidates’ 2020 presidential campaign pages receive to show who is getting our readers' attention.

Tom Steyer's campaign page on Ballotpedia received 3,282 views for the week of December 1-7. Steyer's pageview figure represents 9.1% of the pageviews for the week. Andrew Yang had 8.8% of the pageviews for the week, followed by Pete Buttigieg with 8.5%. This is Steyer's second consecutive week leading in pageviews.

Every Democratic candidate other than Steyer, Buttigieg, and Tulsi Gabbard had more pageviews last week than the week before. The three candidates with the highest week-over-week increases were Julián Castro (52.8%), Bernie Sanders (40.5%), and Joe Biden (37.5%).

Andrew Yang remains the leader in overall pageviews this year with 150,806. Pete Buttigieg follows with 144,572 and Joe Biden with 134,882.

See the full data on all presidential candidates by clicking the link below.Steyer spent $526,837 on Facebook ads from Nov. 29 through Dec. 5, second only to Michael Bloomberg—who spent $1.2 million—among Democratic presidential candidates during that period. Elizabeth Warren was third, spending $237,259. Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing covers the Facebook ad spending of all presidential candidates each Wednesday.

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