The Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) selected Hon. Steven L. Hostetler, Hon. Matthew C. Kincaid, and Mr. Geoffrey G. Slaughter as the three nominees for the Indiana Supreme Court. The JNC will submit a report to Governor Mike Pence in the upcoming days. Once the report is submitted, the Governor has 60 days to appoint one of the nominees to the Court.
According to the Indiana Constitution and state statute, the seven-member JNC must recruit and select candidates to fill vacancies on Indiana appellate courts. Justice Brent Dickson, one of five Supreme Court justices, is retiring April 29 after 30 years on the bench.
Justice Dickson announced his upcoming retirement in November 2015. Interested candidates had more than two months to submit an application. The applications are available online. The JNC considered applicants’ legal education, writings, reputation in the practice of law, and other pertinent information. It also conducted in-person public interviews of twenty-nine applicants. It announced fifteen finalists in February. The fifteen finalists were once again publicly interviewed over a two-day period.
After deliberations in executive session on March 4, the JNC publicly voted to send the three nominees—Hostetler, Kincaid, and Slaughter—to the Governor. Additional information about the vacancy can be found online.
