July 27 Nevada Supreme Court Opinion (Halverson v. Hardcastle)
On July 27, the Nevada Supreme court issued its decision in Halverson v. Hardcastle. The Court denied the petition in part, and granted it in part. The Court affirmed the Chief’s Judge’s ability to assign cases and to appoint a committee to work with a judge. However, the Court found that the Chief exceeded her authority in barring a judge from the courthouse, because less drastic measures would have served to remedy the situation. The court stated:
In Nevada, a chief judge is broadly authorized to carry out the district courts’ inherent authority to ensure the orderly administration of judicial business. Consequently, so long as the chief judge follows relevant statutes and court rules, he or she may convene committees of judges to review another judge’s conduct in processing cases and even remove or reassign cases. Further, under certain circumstances, she may properly exercise her supervisory authority over court business to ban another judge from the courthouse. Her supervisory authority over other judges’ exercise of judicial functions, however, is limited to emergency circumstances that were not demonstrated here . . . .
The decision was unanimous, with two justices, Gibbons and Cherry, having previously recused themselves.
