Ann Timmer
2012 - Present
2029
13
Ann Timmer is a judge of the Arizona Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2012. Her current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Timmer ran for re-election for judge of the Arizona Supreme Court. She won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
Timmer first became a member of the court by appointment. She was appointed in 2012 by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) to fill the vacancy created when Justice Andrew Hurwitz was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.[1] To read more about judicial selection in Arizona, click here.
Justice Timmer was retained by voters in 2016 to a full six-year term that began in January 2017. As of June 2021, she was vice chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.
On July 1, 2024, Timmer was elected chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.[2]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Timmer received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Timmer graduated from the University of Arizona in 1982. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Arizona State University College of Law in 1985. Timmer received a master's degree in judicial studies from Duke University School of Law in 2018.[5]
Timmer worked for law firms in Phoenix, Arizona before becoming a judge. She was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 2000 by Gov. Jane Dee Hull (R).[6] Timmer was retained to the court in 2002 and 2008 and was chief judge from 2008 to 2011. Gov. Jan Brewer (R) appointed her to the state supreme court in 2012, where she served as vice chief justice as of June 2021.[5]
She previously served as president of the Arizona Judges Association and chaired the Arizona Supreme Court Probate Committee, Maricopa County Judicial Nominating Committee, Pima County Judicial Nominating Committee, and other committees, commissions, and task forces. In 2020, Timmer received the "Woman of the Year" award from the Arizona Capitol Times.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Arizona Supreme Court elections, 2022
Arizona Supreme Court, Ann Timmer's seat
Ann Timmer was retained to the Arizona Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 71.1% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
71.1
|
1,301,858 | ||
No |
28.9
|
529,551 | |||
Total Votes |
1,831,409 | ||||
|
|
2016
- See also: Arizona Supreme Court elections, 2016
Ann Timmer was retained in the Arizona Supreme Court retention election with 76.71% of the vote.
| Arizona Supreme Court, Timmer's seat, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 Ann Timmer | 76.71% | |
| Source: Arizona Secretary of State | ||
2008
Timmer was retained to the Court of Appeals in 2008.
- 71.74 percent voted in favor of retention.
- 28.26 percent voted against retention.[7]
2002
Timmer was retained to the Court of Appeals in 2002.
- 74.75 percent voted in favor of retention.
- 25.24 percent voted against retention.[8]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ann Timmer did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Ann
Timmer
Arizona
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Republican governor
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Timmer was appointed to the court by Gov. Jan Brewer (R). At the time of her appointment, Arizona was a Republican trifecta. She donated $175 to Republican candidates and $770 to Democratic candidates.
State supreme court judicial selection in Arizona
- See also: Judicial selection in Arizona
The seven justices on the Arizona Supreme Court are each appointed by the governor from a list of names compiled by the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. The commission is composed of 16 members who serve staggered four-year terms. The membership includes 10 non-attorneys, five attorneys, and the chief justice of the supreme court, who chairs the commission.[11]
The initial term of a new justice is at least two years, after which the justice stands for retention in an uncontested yes-no election. Subsequent terms last six years.[12] For more information on these retention elections, visit the Arizona judicial elections page.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a justice:[13]
| “ |
|
” |
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is selected by peer vote. He or she serves in that capacity for five years.[15]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. Potential justices submit applications to the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, and once the commission has chosen a slate of nominees, the governor picks one from that list. After occupying the seat for two years, the newly appointed justice stands for retention in the next general election. The justice then serves a full six-year term if he or she is retained by voters.[16]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
|
Officeholder Arizona Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ KNAU, "Governor Brewer Appoints 3rd Justice to State Supreme Court," October 12, 2012
- ↑ National Association of Women Judges, "Hon. Ann Timmer Elected Chief Justice of Arizona Supreme Court," March 1, 2024
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Arizona Judicial Branch, "Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Van Norman Law, "Current Arizona Supreme Court Justices (Part 1)," June 14, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2008 General Election," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2002 General Election," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Article 6, Section 36: Commission on appellate court appointments and terms, appointments and vacancies on commission," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Article 6, Section 37: Judicial vacancies and appointments; initial terms; residence; age," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "AZ Supreme Court," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Arizona Judicial Branch, "Meet The Justices," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
| ||||||||||
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Current judges | James P. Beene, Clint Bolick, Maria Elena Cruz, Kathryn Hackett King, John Lopez IV, Bill Montgomery, Ann Timmer | ||
| Former judges | Scott Bales, Robert Brutinel, Andrew W. Gould, John Pelander, Rebecca White Berch | ||
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