Nevada Judiciary

For the first time ever, the Nevada Supreme Court will webcast its Friday court hearings live over the internet in an effort to let as many Nevadans as possible view the proceedings that will impact this year’,s election ballots.

Friday’,s court hearings in the Supreme Court’,s courtroom on the 17th floor the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas are also scheduled to be broadcast live on television in Las Vegas over Las Vegas One, channel 19.

Three oral arguments scheduled for the morning of June 13 also will be webcast on the internet and broadcast on Las Vegas One.

“,The Supreme Court understands the public interest in the cases and wants to ensure that everyone who wishes to view the proceedings, no matter where in the state they live, can do so,”, said Chief Justice Mark Gibbons.

Chief Justice Gibbons said the decision to webcast the arguments was made, in part, because of the limited seating in the Las Vegas courtroom. The limited seating may prevent some who visit the Regional Justice Center from having the opportunity to actually attend the hearings. An overflow viewing room has been established at the Clark County Jury Services on the third floor of the Regional Justice Center.

Access to the webcast will be through the Supreme Court’,s website: www.nvsupremecourt.us. The webcast, which is possible only because of the cooperation of the Legislative Council Bureau, will only be available during the live court sessions, and not archived on the website. However, an audio file, or podcast, of the arguments will be posted on the website following the day’,s arguments.

Last minute challenges to term limits, tax initiatives and other matters that will impact Nevada’,s election ballots, prompted the Nevada Supreme Court on June 4 to order an unprecedented case management hearing for Friday, June 13 at 1:30 p.m.

Chief Justice Mark Gibbons described the hearing as something of a “,triage session”, to determine how to proceed in the cases. Documents and legal briefs continued to be filed Wednesday in the cases. All matters that need immediate attention will be considered by the justices at the Friday afternoon hearing.

Chief Justice Gibbons said that during the afternoon session, “,the Court will determine how best to address the cases so they can be resolved as quickly as possible. Some cases will have common issues, but others are unique.”,

The underlying issues that led to the filing of the cases will not be argued except to help the court determine how to proceed.

Documents relating to the case have been posted on the Supreme Court website under “,High Profile Cases.”,

“,The kind of mass case management hearing we will be conducting on Friday is unprecedented at the Supreme Court level,”, Chief Justice Gibbons said.

Chief Justice Gibbons noted. “,The Supreme Court is being asked to compress its procedures into very short time frames to accommodate the election cycle and the needs of counties to have absentee ballots printed and mailed in a timely fashion.”,

“,While we will give these cases priority, we will not take shortcuts and issue opinions that are not well reasoned and supported by the law and the Constitution,”, Chief Justice Gibbons said.

Two of the three arguments on Friday morning deal with terms of office for elected officials and the third will address whether candidates for District Court judgeships must reside in the judicial district where they are seeking the bench.

The most prominent case was filed by Eighth Judicial District Judge Elizabeth Halverson, who is seeking re-election. The seat she originally won in 2006 was for a two year term although District Court seats generally are for six-year terms. Judge Halverson is challenging the Legislature’,s right to create judgeships with shorter terms, which was done to place all judges on the same election and pay raise cycle. Judge Halverson’,s case is scheduled to be argued at 10:30 a.m. on June 13.

At 10 a.m., the case of the Independent American party of Clark County vs. Secretary of State Ross Miller will be argued. It also addresses a term of office issue.

The third case, scheduled to be argued at 11 a.m., involves a challenge to the candidacy of Michael Montero for a seat on the Sixth Judicial District Court bench. That district includes Pershing, Humboldt, and Lander Counties. Mr. Montero is not a resident of that district, but Second Judicial District Judge Patrick Flanagan already has ruled that since district judges have statewide jurisdiction, candidates need not be residents of their district to file for office.