WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today presented the 2009 Judicial Achievement Award to retired Chief Justice Ruth V. McGregor for her distinguished service on the Arizona Supreme Court and her continued leadership in promoting public participation and transparency in the merit selection of state judges.
“Arizona’s judicial selection process has been a breath of fresh air among states that appoint their supreme court justices due to her promotion of balance and lack of political favoritism,” said ILR President Lisa Rickard. “Under the leadership of Chief Justice McGregor, Arizona instituted further reforms to bring openness to the judicial selection process and, today, it serves as a positive national example of a truly merit-based selection system.”
During her tenure as chief justice, Justice McGregor was instrumental in improving the merit selection process in Arizona, working to make objective performance evaluations of judges more widely available and instituting the practice of posting the qualifications of judicial candidates on the court’s Web site. Off the bench, Justice McGregor continues to promote the Arizona merit selection system through her writings and speeches.
Justice McGregor began her service on the Arizona Supreme Court in 1998, when she was appointed to the court by Governor Jane Dee Hull. She subsequently won retention elections in 2000 and 2006, and served a term as chief justice until she retired from the court on June 30, 2009. She was the second woman to serve as chief justice to the Arizona Supreme Court. Prior to Justice McGregor’s appointment to the Supreme Court, she served on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 1989 to 1998 and was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor from 1981 to 1982.
Justice McGregor accepted the award at ILR’s 10th Annual Legal Reform Summit, which brought together the nation’s leading legal reform experts to discuss the problems in the civil justice system and solutions to fix them.
ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.
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