Nomination of Hunter Johnson
 Johnson faces questions before the Jarlaråd on 10 October, 2006, shortly after the proposed compromise resolution to end the crisis. | |
| Nomination to the United Jarldoms Supreme Court | |
|---|---|
| Nominee | Hunter Johnson |
| Nominated by | Paal Zhang |
| Nomination Date | 3 June, 2006 |
| Succeeding | Ted Bear (associate justice) |
| Outcome | |
| Confirmed on | 11 October, 2006 |
| Results in Judicial Reform Act of 2007 | |
On June 3, 2006, incumbent Grand Chancellor Paal Zhang nominated Hunter Johnson for the position of Associate Justice of the United Jarldoms Supreme Court to succeed Ted Bear, who had died one month earlier. At the time of his nomination, Johnson was the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Devold.
This vacancy arose during the final year of Zhang's term as grand chancellor. While the coalition between the Liberal Democrats and Social Union had maintained a majority in the Jarlaråd for the first four years of Zhang's chancellery, the Republican Party and its allies had regained control of the Jarlaråd in 2005. Hours after Bear's death, Jarlaråd Majority Leader (and future grand chancellor) Olaf Duraksen said he would consider any appointment by the sitting grand chancellor to be null and void. He said the next Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the next grand chancellor elected early the next year. Social Union and Liberal Democratic Councilors criticized the move as being unprecedented- while such a precedent existed in part, it had only ever been applied to vacancies occuring earlier than three months before the election. Such a move eight months before the election had never been done before.
Bear's death brought about the unusual situation where a grand chancellor of one party had been called upon to nominate a Supreme Court justice while the Jarlaråd was under the control of a different party. Before 2006, such a situation had last arisen in 1975, when the Social Union-led Jarlaråd confirmed Republican Håvard Uzhtank's nomination of Skjalg DeMario to the Court in a voice vote. Political commentators at the time widely recognized Bear as one of the most liberal members of the Court, and noted that while Johnson was a centrist, being called by the solicitor's unions of four jarldoms the model of a neutral jurist, his replacement of the more liberal Bear would have shifted the Court's ideological balance for many years into the future. The confirmation of Johnson would have given Social Union or Liberal Democratic affiliated justices a majority on the Supreme Court for the first time since 1996, when the court was enlarged from five to seven justices.
11 of the 21 members of the Jarlaråd's judiciary committee refused to conduct the hearings necessary to advance the vote to the Jarlaråd at large. After two months, on August 2, 2006, Grand Chancellor Zhang publicly declared that the Jarlaråd's refusal to hold a vote amounted to tacit consent, as a true objection would've been represented by a vote against the nominee. This moved sparked a constitutional crisis, as it was unclear whether Zhang's act constituted a valid interpretation of the law. Johnson was sworn in, but upon entering the chambers of the Supreme Court, all three Republican-affiliated justices (Angela Torrents, Kristoff Edwards. and Jeanne DeLucia) walked out of the court in protest. The two Social Union (Henrik Liu and Erik Stortingsen) and one Liberal Democratic (Hal Jorgensen) justices remained in the court room, and as the addition of Johnson constituted a quorum, they began to hold hearings without their Republican colleagues.
The crisis would continue until September 30. Justices Torrents, Liu, and Jorgensen publicly proposed a compromise plan for the nomination of Johnson. The Jarlaråd would hold hearings and confirm Johnson to the vacant position on the Court, recognize that in future nominations a vote must be held or the grand chancellor was free to consider the nominee appointed, and would pass a resolution increasing the size of the Court to nine justices. In exchange, Grand Chancellor Zhang would recognize that the grand chancellor has no power to interpret the will of the Jarlaråd in such a way, the confirmation of Johnson would only take effect after the Jarlaråd's vote and his swearing in on 2 August would be considered null and void, with all decisions made (there were three) between 2 August and 30 September would be reconsidered. In addition, Zhang would nominate a Republican and a moderate Social Union justice to fill the proposed two new seats, to maintain balance on the court.
On October 2, Majority Leader Duraksen and Grand Chancellor Zhang agreed to most of the proposed plan, but instead of an enlargement to nine justices, the public backlash over the dispute led to both endorsing a reform to make the Court a more apolitical institution. This reform culminated in the Judicial Reform Act of 2007, which was signed into law by Duraksen after his election as grand chancellor.