State of Justice: June 2026 Vacancies and Elections Updates
Vacancies
Delaware
Gov. Matt Meyer (D) made his first nomination to the state’s high court, nominating Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn to fill a seat that will be vacated when Justice Karen Valihura retires from the court on July 25. Zurn has served on the state Court of Chancery since 2018 and was formerly a deputy attorney general in the Delaware Department of Justice. Delaware uses an assisted appointment method to fill judicial vacancies. In that process, the governor notifies the judicial nominating commission of a vacancy. That commission provides a list of three candidates for the governor to choose from. That nominee must then be confirmed by the state senate. Here, Zurn was voted out of senate committee last week and seems likely to be confirmed soon.
Hawaii
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) has yet another vacancy to fill on that state’s supreme court after Associate Justice Vladimir P. Devens was nominated, confirmed, and sworn in as Chief Justice, following the retirement of Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, who retired on September 30, 2025, after he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Hawaii is one of ten jurisdictions in which state supreme court jurists are selected through assisted appointments, a hybrid system with a judicial nominating commission, gubernatorial appointment based on commission selection, and confirmation by the Hawaii State Senate. The Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission is currently accepting applications to fill the new vacancy, with a deadline of August 13, 2026. This will make Green’s fourth opportunity to fill a vacancy on the five-person court, following his appointment of Justice Lisa M. Ginoza in 2023 and Justice Devens as an associate justice in 2023.
Idaho
Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan is retiring, effective October 30, 2026. As a result, Gov. Brad Little (R) will make his third nomination to the five-member court. In Idaho, the governor must select a replacement jurist from a list of two to four candidates selected by a nominating commission. That nominee may serve the remainder of Chief Justice Bevan’s unexpired term – which ends in January 2031– after which the nominee must stand for election in a non-partisan race.
Rhode Island
In March 2026, Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg retired from the Rhode Island supreme court, providing Gov. Daniel McKee (D) with his first opportunity to name a jurist to the state supreme court. In Rhode Island, a judicial nominating commission recommends candidates to the governor, after which the state house and senate confirm the governor’s appointee. The judicial nominating commission has selected five candidates for interview on July 28, including the most recent Speaker of the House K. Joseph Shekarchi (D). After that process, the commission will send three names to McKee for consideration for appointment.
South Carolina
Justice John C. Few dropped his bid for legislative re-election to the South Carolina supreme court, thereby canceling the race and reopening the application process. Justice Few’s term ends in July; however, he may continue to serve until his successor is elected. In South Carolina, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission takes applications and evaluates candidates for consideration. That commission sends a list of three “qualified” candidates to the general assembly, which votes on them. A candidate must win a majority of the vote during a joint public session of the state house and senate to win the seat.
Utah
Gov. Spencer Cox (R) appointed two attorneys to fill vacancies on the Utah Supreme Court that were created when the legislature expanded the court from five to seven members earlier this year. Cox chose Jay Jorgensen, a senior counsel in the Office of General Counsel for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and Stephen Dent, the deputy criminal chief and Southern Utah branch chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah, to fill the two new seats. The Utah Senate confirmed Jorgensen and Dent to the court on June 17. They will be sworn in in the coming weeks. Cox has two additional vacancies to fill – for a total of five appointments — due to the retirements of former Justice Diana Hagen, who left the court in May, and Chief Justice Matthew Durrant, whose retirement will be effective on August 31.
Elections
Kansas
In August, Kansas voters will be asked to decide whether the state should stop using the assisted appointment method to select Kansas Supreme Court justices. The amendment would abolish the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission and replace assisted appointment with direct elections. Opponents of the proposal argue that changing the selection process could make it more partisan. Indeed, former Justice Carol Beier warns that selecting jurists by election could invite special-interest spending and compel judicial candidates to face pressure to campaign on issues they may later decide. Additionally, the amendment does not specify the method of judicial election; instead, it authorizes the legislature to decide that method after the fact.
Ohio
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2021 law that requires appellate judges in Ohio to run for election with a partisan identification, arguing that the law places judicial candidates in an untenable bind by requiring them to run under a party label while the state’s judicial ethics rules prohibit them from discussing political issues. If Justice Brunner succeeds, the immediate result could be that Ohio would no longer require party labels next to candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court unless the state rewrites the law in a way that survives constitutional review.
