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Hawaii has six new judges — including five women — after the state Senate confirmed their nominations Friday.
State Sen. Sen. Rosalyn Baker (D, West Maui-South Maui) — co-convener of the Senate Women’s Caucus — stood up on the Senate floor and applauded the number of new female judges.
“We on this floor took our governor to task for not giving us a more diverse and yet more qualified number of candidates,” Baker said. “With this group that we just confirmed today, the governor heard us, and this demonstrates the diversity, the well-qualified women that exist in our state to serve not only in the Judiciary, but in other aspects. … It’s going to bring diversity, knowledge, experience and depth to our Judiciary.”
The new judges are:
>> Clarissa Y. Malinao, Shanlyn A.S. Park and Kevin T. Morikone to Oahu’s 1st Circuit Court.
>> Kirstin M. Hamman to Maui’s 2nd Circuit Court.
>> Wendy M. DeWeese to to Hawaii island’s 3rd Circuit Court and Kimberly B.M. Taniyama to the 3rd Circuit District Court.
The Senate’s unanimous votes, with two reservations for Morikone, the only male nominee, followed the failed effort to confirm Gov. David Ige’s nomination of Daniel Gluck to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, Hawaii’s second-highest court.
Gluck withdrew his nomination amid calls for greater ethnic and gender representation on Hawaii’s highest courts after the state Senate Judiciary Committee failed to support his nomination in July. The full Senate later voted down Gluck’s nomination.
Ige then nominated Sonja McCullen to the Intermediate Court of Appeals. She is a Honolulu deputy prosecutor who previously taught social studies, Hawaiian studies and Hawaiian language at Waianae High School.
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