James Beene
2019 - Present
2029
6
James P. Beene is a judge of the Arizona Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2019. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Beene ran for re-election for judge of the Arizona Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
Beene first became a member of the court by appointment. Gov. Doug Ducey (R) appointed him to succeed Justice John Pelander.[1] To read more about judicial selection in Arizona, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] Beene received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Beene was a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, from 2017 to 2019. Gov. Ducey announced Beene's appointment to this court on December 9, 2016, to succeed retired Judge Maurice Portley.[4]
Beene was previously a judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court, Arizona, from 2009 to 2017.[5]
Biography
Beene received his B.A. in political science from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1988 and his J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1991.[1]
Beene was an assistant attorney general for Arizona from 1999 to 2005 and deputy county attorney for Maricopa County from 2005 to 2009. He served as a judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court from 2009 to 2017, then on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 2017 to 2019, when he assumed a seat on the state supreme court.[5] Ducey announced his appointment to the court on April 26, 2019, and Beene assumed office in June.[1]
Beene also served on the Judicial Selection Committee, Economic Development Advisory Board, and Planning and Zoning Commission for the town of Gilbert, Arizona.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Arizona Supreme Court elections, 2022
Arizona Supreme Court, James Beene's seat
James P. Beene was retained to the Arizona Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 70.5% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
70.5
|
1,305,293 | ||
No |
29.5
|
545,434 | |||
Total Votes |
1,850,727 | ||||
|
|
2019
Gov. Doug Ducey (R) appointed Beene to the Arizona Supreme Court to succeed Justice John Pelander.[1] Beene assumed office in June of 2019.[5]
2016
Appointment
Ducey appointed Beene to the Arizona Court of Appeals Division One seat to succeed retired Judge Maurice Portley. Ducey announced his appointment in December 2016, and Beene assumed office in January of 2017.[4][5]
Election
Arizona held elections for 80 superior court judgeships on November 8, 2016. Sixty-three of those seats were up for retention election. Three counties—Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal—use retention elections for their superior courts.[6]
| Maricopa County Superior Court, James Beene Retention Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 James Beene | 72.54% | |
| Source: Maricopa County, "November 8, 2016, Summary Report, Final Official Results," accessed June 16, 2021 | ||
2012
Beene was retained with 71.42 percent of the vote in the general election on November 6, 2012.[7][8]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James P. Beene did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
James
Beene
Arizona
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Beene was appointed to the court by Gov. Doug Ducey (R). He was a member of the Republican party prior to 2020. He donated $40 to Republican candidates. Arizona was a Republican trifecta at the time of Beene’s appointment.
State supreme court judicial selection in Arizona
- See also: Judicial selection in Arizona
The seven justices on the Arizona Supreme Court are each appointed by the governor from a list of names compiled by the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. The commission is composed of 16 members who serve staggered four-year terms. The membership includes 10 non-attorneys, five attorneys, and the chief justice of the supreme court, who chairs the commission.[11]
The initial term of a new justice is at least two years, after which the justice stands for retention in an uncontested yes-no election. Subsequent terms last six years.[12] For more information on these retention elections, visit the Arizona judicial elections page.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a justice:[13]
| “ |
|
” |
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is selected by peer vote. He or she serves in that capacity for five years.[15]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. Potential justices submit applications to the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, and once the commission has chosen a slate of nominees, the governor picks one from that list. After occupying the seat for two years, the newly appointed justice stands for retention in the next general election. The justice then serves a full six-year term if he or she is retained by voters.[16]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Officeholder Arizona Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Office of the Governor Doug Ducey, "Governor Ducey Appoints James P. Beene To The Supreme Court Of Arizona," April 26, 2019
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Office of the Governor, "Judge James Beene Appointed To The AZ Court Of Appeals," December 12, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Arizona Judicial Branch, "Justice James P. Beene," June 16, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review, "JPR Vote Results: Vote Meeting," June 24, 2016
- ↑ Maricopa County, "November 6, 2012, Summary Report, Final Official Results," accessed June 16, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Courts, "Judicial Performance Review Commission Announces Official Performance Ratings for Judges," August 7, 2012
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Article 6, Section 36: Commission on appellate court appointments and terms, appointments and vacancies on commission," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Article 6, Section 37: Judicial vacancies and appointments; initial terms; residence; age," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "AZ Supreme Court," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Meet The Justices," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
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