Following a court order prompted by a Honolulu Star-Advertiser lawsuit, Gov. Neil Abercrombie released the names of candidates for the Hawaii Supreme Court and two Circuit Court judgeships on Saturday.

The action follows Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto’s Nov. 14 ruling in favor of the Star-Advertiser in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking the release of the lists, and the Nov. 16 decision by the Judicial Selection Commission, which screens judicial candidates, to publicly release the list when it forwards the names to the governor.

"We are pleased that Governor Abercrombie has decided to follow the court’s decision and no longer pursue this matter," said Dennis Francis, president and publisher of the Star-Advertiser. "As we have said from the beginning, transparent government is almost always the best approach."

Diane Hastert, the Star-Advertiser’s attorney in the case, said, "We’re gratified it appears there will be no need for further litigation to secure the people’s right to know the names appearing on Judicial Selection Commission’s lists. The Star-Advertiser stepped forward and took responsibility to protect the public interest at a crucial time. The Court, the JSC and now the governor all agree the names will be released, which is precisely what our suit sought."

With the release of the lists, Abercrombie effectively waived the state’s right to appeal Sakamoto’s decision. However, Attorney General David Louie, who handled the release on behalf of the governor, made it clear that Abercrombie still disagrees with the court decision.

The governor has maintained that, per the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision in Pray v. Judicial Selection Committee, it is the sole discretion of the governor to decide whether to release such lists after receiving them and that if candidates were to be disclosed, they should be disclosed by the commission.

"The governor continues to maintain, pursuant to the Pray decision, that he has discretion with regard to prior lists provided to him, and disagrees with the recent ruling by a judge that he should disclose such lists," Louie said. "However, in light of the changed circumstances with the Commission’s actions, judicial applicants will no longer have any expectation of confidentiality."

Larry Geller, a longtime open government advocate and blogger for Disappeared News (disappearednews.com), welcomed the release as a learning opportunity for the governor.

"Now that (Abercrombie) has released the judiciary selection list, I think he will see that transparency really works and increases people’s trust and faith in government and in his leadership," Geller said.

The previous two governors, Ben Cayetano and Linda Lingle, routinely released commission lists for more than 45 judicial appointments.

But Abercrombie refused to do so when he appointed Sabrina McKenna to the Hawaii Supreme Court, and Karen Nakasone and Rhonda Loo to Circuit Court this year.

Abercrombie had said the release of names would have a "chilling effect" on prospective nominees who did not wish to have their candidacy made public.

Sakamoto ruled that this rationale was "speculation" because the state’s lawyers did not present evidence to support that point.

Under the state Constitution, the governor must appoint each Circuit Court, appellate court and Supreme Court jurist from lists of four to six candidates submitted by the commission.

The chief justice appoints district judges from the lists of at least six names provided by the commission. The court makes the lists public and solicits comments on the candidates.

The appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.

On Wednesday, in the first application of its new policy, the Judicial Selection Commission released the names of six candidates for district judge on Maui that were forwarded to state Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald.