Mark Barnett is now honorable again.
I got a call when I was at a conference noting that former AG (and current Deputy AG) Mark Barnett was announced to a judgeship today. I got home and verified it, finding it on the State's website just now. So, from the announcement:
Gov. Mike Rounds announced today the appointment of Mark Barnett of Pierre as judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit of South Dakota.
Barnett is currently Chief Deputy Attorney General of South Dakota. Prior to that, he spent nine years in private practice, served as Hughes County State’s Attorney and was elected to three terms as Attorney General.
“I am deeply honored by this news, and very grateful to Governor Rounds for placing trust in me,” said Barnett. “I will do everything I can to serve the public in a fair and efficient way.”
Barnett has been involved in high profile cases since 1981. He has argued and won two reversals in civil cases in the United States Supreme Court. He was the lead prosecutor on two death penalty cases, including the case against serial killer Robert Leroy Anderson. His most recent jury trial ended in a conviction of a Pierre man who murdered his wife and who then tried to frame his own 12-year-old daughter.
Barnett lives in Pierre with his wife, Deb, and their two sons, John and Jim. He will begin his tenure on the bench beginning June 18th.
For the man known as "the honorable" in his former title, now we can all consider him "the honorable" again. Congratulations Mark!
Comments
I just wish Miss P. Hilton could go before him!
I heard on the new from Judge Judy that she would be locked up in the jail if it was her call! I only wish i could quote her and no I'm not going to look up the quote, sorry.
O and congrats to Sean O'Brien too for his judgeship!
That makes it a lie, (just so you know.)
Never, EVER use the word "but" in politics.
It negates what you said in front of it.
Better to say "strong AND fair."
Geeze, do us Libertarians have to teach you Repubs everything?
No wonder you're all standing around with your dicks in your hands these days.
You've forgotten how to use the language ever since Rove threw in the towel.
TSK!
PP, was it a Blogger Conference?
so easy money says this. long will pick a deputy that has street creds, meaning, knows how to catch bad guys in court.
that is what the public expects, and rightly so.
Next, Barnett will be promoted to the supreme court when Justice Sabers faces mandatory retirement at the end of 2008.
soon their space cruisers will arrive. watch the skies!
small fyi.
Long is AG; he doesn't run corrections. That outfit is run by Rounds. Different elected official.
(but with all the agencies in that town, it is hard to keep them sorted out.)
Congrats Mark
That's why you'd never see certain people even get past the first cut. Every skeleton in your closet is laid bare, and it's not just your parent or best friend who they might ask about your character.
They go to your colleagues, and random other attorneys whom you didn't list as references. They're all asked about you.
Mark got it because he's a good prosecutor, and a good attorney. Disagreeing with his political preference isn't a good enough reason - not by a long shot - to cast stones at his appointment.
If no one has noticed, some of his proteges had previously risen to the rank, such as Judge Kern.
It was well deserved, and we will be well served by having him in the position.
Commenters have merely noted that an opening was created for him, which nobody has disputed.
Just to answer two things that will inevitably come up:
1 - Although they are selected from districts, they are all subject to a statewide vote for retention
2 - A justice is allowed to move from his home to Pierre but continue to represent the old hometown. Chief Justice Gilbertson represents Sisseton although he moved to Pierre - that is why Justices Zinter and Gilbertson both live in Pierre.
3 - Justice Meierhenry lives in Lincoln County - that is why there are two justices who live in Sioux Falls.
My point is - when Justice Sabers retires next year, his replacement will have to be someone from Minnehaha County.
Mark Barnett is a Sioux Falls native, so it would not be surprising for him to take the Supreme Court seat representing the 2nd SCT Circuit (Minnehaha/ Lincoln Counties). And as you mentioned, he could continue to live in his Pierre home as long as he were to retain ties to the 2nd Circuit.
http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=0N-5-2
SDCL 16-1-1. "Supreme Court districts. The state is divided into five Supreme Court districts from each of which a justice shall be selected as follows:" (there follows a list of the counties within each district)
http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=16-1-1
Scimitar - that is true for CIRCUIT judges. It is not true for Supreme Court justices within the state. If what you said is true, it would render the constitutional and statutory requirement meaningless. It was Chief Justice Gilbertson himself who explained this in answer to a question when he was speaking to my class.
The only way that I could see Barnett could take that seat would be if he "moved" to Sioux Falls so that he would live in the correct district at the time of the appointment. Obviously, that would subvert the purpose of the requirement and might be met with resistance, but stranger things have happened.
Justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the circuit courts and persons presiding over the courts of limited jurisdiction must be citizens of the United States, residents of the state of South Dakota and voting residents within the district, circuit or jurisdiction from which they are elected or appointed.
The South Dakota Supreme Court has decided (in the case of Cummings v Mickelson) that "The phrase “from which they are elected or appointed” construed in light of the old provisions and the mischief sought to be remedied, means that a judge must be a resident of the circuit from which he or she is elected or appointed, but that he or she need only be a resident from that circuit at the time of election or at the time of appointment." The conclusion: the Governor may appoint a Supreme Court Justice from anywhere in the state as long as that person has established residency in the circuit where the appointment is made at the time of appointment. Applicants for the Sabers position will all have a post office box in Minnehaha county when they apply just in case they get the appointment.
Good luck, Barney
The story here is that Rounds, having defeated Barnett in the primary, was still willing to appoint him to.... anything. barnett is qualified, but cmon...he was the opponent. Rounds must be one of the least vindictive elected types we have seen.
did janklow ever appoint any of his numerous opponents? miller? daschle? pressler? name any other politician who ever did this.
i will shut up if any one blogger can name any one statewide politician who ever did this (in SD) before.
and that is the story line for this deal. A non-vengeful politician. who woulda thunk?
i look forward to being corrected by the historians.