With the departure of Associate Justice Simeon Acoba from the Hawaii Supreme Court when he turns 70 next year, the Judicial Selection Commission is seeking applicants for his replacement.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie will appoint the new justice, which means he will have named three jurists to constitute a majority on the five-member high court.
The replacement underscores the transition of the court, which will be getting its fourth new member since 2009.
Acoba, an associate justice since 2000, must leave the court under the mandatory retirement provision in the state Constitution for state judges at age 70.
Acoba’s birthday is in March.
His second 10-year term would have expired in 2020.
The selection commission screens applicants and must submit the names of four to six candidates to the governor.
The governor’s appointment will be subject to state Senate confirmation.
The nine-member commission set Nov. 13 as the deadline for applicants, according to an announcement from the panel last week.
Anyone who wants to nominate a candidate must submit the name by Sept. 30.
The appointment will be for a 10-year term. The annual salary is $206,184, according to the commission.
The transition of the court began in 2009 when former Gov. Linda Lingle appointed Mark Recktenwald as an associate justice.
The next year, Lingle elevated him to chief justice after the Senate rejected her first choice, state appeals Judge Katherine Leonard.
Abercrombie appointed Sabrina McKenna in 2011 to fill Recktenwald’s associate justice slot and named Richard Pollack last year to replace James Duffy, who reached age 70.
The associate justice who will serve through the transition is Paula Nakayama, who was granted a third 10-year term by the commission this year. Former Gov. John Waihee named her at age 39 to the court in 1993.
Commission members have had concerns in the past about the dwindling number of applicants for the high-level judgeships.
Seven applied for the vacancy filled by McKenna and nine for the slot filled by Pollack.
In its announcement, the commission listed job benefits that include employer contributions for premiums in state-sponsored medical plans, a free life insurance policy, 13 paid holidays and 21 vacation and 21 sick-leave days a year.
Applicants may apply through the commission’s website at www.courts.state.hi.us/courts/judicial_ selection_commission. html.
The names of nominees can be sent to commission Chairwoman Doris Ching, 417 S. King St., Honolulu, HI 96813.
