Jim Shea
2014 - Present
2028
10
Jim Shea is a judge of the Montana Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2014. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Shea ran for re-election for judge of the Montana Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Shea first became a member of the court through gubernatorial appointment. He was appointed by Democratic Governor Steve Bullock on May 5, 2014, to succeed Judge Brian Morris and took the bench on June 2, 2014.[1][2] To read more about judicial selection in Montana, 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.[3] Shea received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Shea received both his undergraduate and J.D. degrees from the University of Montana in 1988 and 1991, respectively.[5] He began his legal career as a clerk for Chief Judge Paul Hatfield of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. He then practiced law in Oregon for four years. There he served as a trial lawyer with the Metropolitan Public Defender in Portland and then practiced law with the firm of Bricker, Zakovics & Querin. In 1996, Shea moved back to Montana. Prior to his first judicial appointment, he was a partner at the law firm of Paoli & Shea in Missoula, Montana. He was appointed to the Workers' Compensation Court by Governor Brian Schweitzer and was sworn in to that position on September 7, 2005. In 2014, he was appointed to the Montana Supreme Court.[5]
Elections
2020
Montana Supreme Court
Jim Shea was retained to the Montana Supreme Court on November 3, 2020 with 79.7% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
79.7
|
432,032 | ||
No |
20.3
|
110,349 | |||
Total Votes |
542,381 | ||||
|
|
See also: Montana Supreme Court elections, 2020
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Jim Shea advanced from the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jim Shea (Nonpartisan) | 100.0 | 298,973 |
| Total votes: 298,973 | |||
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2016
Shea ran for election to the remainder of Morris' term, which expired in 2020.[6]
Election results
November 8 general election
| Montana Supreme Court, Seat 6, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 Jim Shea | 81.40% | |
| Source: Montana Secretary of State | ||
June 7 primary election
| Montana Supreme Court Primary, Seat 6, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Jim Shea Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 227,153 |
| Total Votes (686 of 686 precincts reporting: 100%) | 227,153 | |
| Source: Montana Secretary of State Official Results | ||
Campaign finance
In his campaign finance report of May 22, Shea reported $37,087.50 for the primary, with no expenditures.[7]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jim Shea did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2020 Elections
Approach to the law
Regarding his judicial philosophy, Shea stated:
| “ | I’ve always tried to do what a judge is supposed to do — call balls and strikes. I’m a Mariners’ fan. I don’t get to change the strike zone just because the Yankees are at bat.[8][9] | ” |
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.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- 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.
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in Montana
- See also: Judicial selection in Montana
The seven justices on the Montana Supreme Court are selected through nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. When their terms expire, justices must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court. If unopposed, a justice must stand for a yes-no retention election.[12][13]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.[12]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected through a nonpartisan election to an eight-year term.[12]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor is responsible for appointing a new justice to the court. Once confirmed by the Montana state Senate, the justice will hold office until the next regular election. At that time, the appointed justice will be able to run for re-election or retention to complete the remainder of the unexpired term.[13]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Office of the Governor, "Press Release: Governor Bullock Appoints Judge Jim Shea to Montana Supreme Court," May 5, 2014
- ↑ Flathead Chronicle, "Governor appoints Shea to Montana Supreme Court," May 5, 2014
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Shea for Justice, "Vote to Re-Elect Montana Justice Jim Shea," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedsite - ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Campaign Electronic Finance Reporting System," accessed May 24, 2016
- ↑ The Billings Gazette, "Governor appoints work comp judge to state Supreme Court," May 5, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed August 11, 2021
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Montana State Legislature, "The Constitution of the state of Montana," accessed August 11, 2021 (Article VII, part VII, section 8)
| ||||||||||
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Current |
Chief Justice: Mike McGrath (Montana) • James Rice (Montana) • Dirk M. Sandefur • Laurie McKinnon • Ingrid Gustafson • Jim Shea • Beth Baker | ||
| Former |
Patricia O'Brien Cotter • Karla Gray • James Nelson (Montana) • William Leaphart • John Warner (Montana) • Brian Morris (Montana) • Terry Trieweiler • Hezekiah Hosmer • Henry L. Warren • Decius Wade • N.W. McConnell • Henry N. Blake • William Pemberton • Theodore Brantiy • Llewellyn L. Callaway • Walter B. Sands • O.P. Goddard • Howard A. Johnson • Carl Lindquist • Hugh H. Adair • James T. Harrison • Frank I. Haswell • J.A. Turnage • Michael E. Wheat • | ||
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
 |
State of Montana Helena (capital) |
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