Gov. Ige to choose from four nominees for Hawaii Supreme Court

Gov. David Ige has received a list of four nominees from the Judicial Selection Commission to fill an Associate Justice seat for the Supreme Court of Hawaii. He has 30 calendar days to make his selection.

The four nominees include Todd W. Eddins, a First Circuit Court judge, Darolyn Lendio Heim, a District Court judge in Honolulu, David M. Forman, director of the Environmental Law Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law, and Benjamin E. Lowenthal, a deputy public defender in Wailuku, Maui.

The Hawaii Supreme Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices nominated by the governor from a list of not less than four and not more than six names submitted by the Judicial Selection Commission, subject to State Senate confirmation.

One seat has been vacant since Associate Justice Richard W. Pollack retired in June.

Public comment on any of the nominees can be submitted online at this link.

More details on the four nominees:

Todd W. Eddins

Eddins has served as a judge with the First Circuit Court since 2017. He has previously worked in private practice, specializing in criminal, civil and appellate litigation. He also worked in the Office of the Public Defender and as a judicial law clerk for the Hawaii Supreme court under Justice Yoshimi Hayashi. Eddins earned his BBA from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and his J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has coached youth athletics and the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility/Olomana High School mock trial team.

David M. Forman

Forman is the director of the Environmental Law Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is also a faculty specialist at Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law. Previously, Forman worked as interim director, lecturer and pro bono faculty advisor at the law school. He attended Harvard College where he earned a B.A. and later a Graduate Ocean Policy Certificate from UH Manoa. Forman has a J.D. from UH Manoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law.

Darolyn Lendio Heim

Heim currently serves as a District Court judge in Honolulu. The first job she held was as a field worker for Del Monte Pineapple in Kunia. She was a staff reporter at Good Housekeeping Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, L.A. Bureau. As an attorney, she worked in private practice, and as an extern for Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Yoshimi Hayashi. In addition, Heim served as director of the Department of the Corporation Counsel, City and County of Honolulu; vice president for Legal Affairs and University General Counsel, University of Hawaii System; interim executive administrator and secretary for the UH Board of Regents.

Benjamin E. Lowenthal

Lowenthal is a deputy public defender at the Office of the Public Defender in Wailuku, Maui. He has served as a law clerk for the Hon. Judge Corinne K.A. Watanabe, Intermediate Court of Appeals in Honolulu and worked as an attorney in private practice. Lowenthal also writes the column “The State of Aloha” for The Maui News. He attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, Maui Community College and San Francisco State University where he earned his B.A. In 2003, Lowenthal received his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law.