judges

The third time was a charm in an effort to get New Mexico judges and justices a bigger paycheck. After vetoing proposals to increase judicial salaries two years in row, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed into law a 21% bump for the bench.

This year marks the New Mexico Legislature’s third attempt to raise the salaries of their coequal branch of government in the judiciary. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has vetoed raises for state Supreme Court justices and most lower court judges two years in a row. But a change to this year’s bill may gain the governor’s support.

Voters passed all three amendments to the state’s constitution to provide more money for early childhood education, allow the state to invest in essential services and spares judges from an election race in the first year of their appointment. Three bond issues passed for public libraries, educational institutions and senior centers also passed with the third for education not yet called by AP.

Candidates from both major parties trying to get on New Mexico’s appellate courts have a similar message: They will be impartial in their rulings, unlike their opponents.

One of the constitutional amendments on the ballot this year concerns appointed judges. It’s asking voters if they think these judges should be spared election in their first year of appointment.

As voters head to the polls, the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are top of mind for many, as are the racial inequities baked into every aspect…

On your ballot this fall, you’ll see some judges in contested elections, and others up for what’s called judicial retention. That’s because after a judge…

Julie Ann Grimm from the Santa Fe Reporter shares some insight on what happened in the House Appropriations Committee when the Administrative Office of…

Big-money influences political races at every level around the U.S. Part of the answer, advocates say, is giving candidates access to public money for…