Bill that changes selection process for Marion County judges creates tension between lawmakers

A new law will change how Marion County judges get selected. 

Democrats argue that it is taking power away from one of Indiana’s largest minority communities.

The bill’s author said the most important parts of the measure are getting missed.

The new law removes the Marion County Bar Association and other Indianapolis legal groups from an existing committee that picks candidates for judges in Marion County. 

Marion County is one of just a handful of counties that do not elect their own judges. Instead, judges are approved by a selection committee, which then sends recommendations to the governor for final appointment. 

Residents do vote on whether to retain judges after they’ve served their first term.

The new law alters the selection committee in Marion County by cutting local legal groups and gives two seats apiece to the governor and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for appointments.

Rep. Ragen Hatcher (D-Gary) represents Lake County, a region of the state with a high minority population that also has less control over judge selection, although it is not impacted by the bill. 

“I see how that looks,” she said. “I have to imagine you all see how that looks as well.”

Bill author Rep. Danny Lopez (R-Carmel) said with focus on the makeup of the judicial committee, important parts of the legislation are being lost. He said the measure will help modernize the court. 

“This really wasn’t about targeting Marion County,” he said. “This was about taking the most important court in the state and making it as strong as possible.”

In the Senate, lawmakers argued that the change was because the judicial committee would have more power, and so the selection committee needed to have more accountability. 

Previously, the committee could “recommend” judges retain their seats. Under the new law, the committee can now pull judges from the ballot entirely. 

Rep. Lopez (R-Carmel) said he wouldn’t have cut the local bar associations from the judge selection committee - a change made in the Senate. 

“That is not where we would have gone. We were much more focused on the governance structure,” he said. “I felt comfortable enough with the changes that had been made, given the enormity of the rest of the bill, to move it forward.”

Lopez said he understands why some lawmakers feel the County is being targeted, but said his legislation is aimed at strengthening the governance structure around Marion County courts. 

“It's 25% of the caseload, and it's some of our most significant cases,” he said. “So what happens here really does matter to the rest of the state.”

State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) commented on the move in a statement last week and said it did seem targeted. “The meddling in Marion County never stops. We lost the power to elect our own judges, and now we’re losing our local voices on the selection committee. This is not happening anywhere else. Whose county is next?”

But Lopez said the new law gives the judicial committee more power to oversee updates to the court's structure - bringing both administrative authority and uniformity to Marion County courts. 

One key example Lopez gave was the ability to develop uniform rules around remote work, an issue that has hindered the court. 

“The issue comes when no one is truly in charge,” he said. “You have an executive committee that to this point has not felt empowered to do hard things, to just modernize the court and look at technologies that can be adopted.”

The new law took effect on the passage of the bill. 

Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org