N.D. Sup. Ct.: A Century of Advances: Ch. II.B. Five-Member Court

II. Meandering into the Twentieth Century
. . .
B. Five-Member Court

The 1889 judicial article authorized the legislature to increase the number of justices to five whenever the population of the state "shall equal 600,000."⁽¹⁴⁹⁾ Before that happened, the legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to increase the number of justices to five.⁽¹⁵⁰⁾ In 1908, while rejecting a companion proposal to increase a justice's term of office from six years to ten,⁽¹⁵¹⁾ the people approved expanding the Court to five justices.⁽¹⁵²⁾

To fill the two new positions thus created, Governor John Burke, the first Democratic governor of the state, appointed John Carmody (1909-1910) of Hillsboro, the second Democrat to serve on the court, and Sidney E. Ellsworth (1909-1910) of Jamestown.⁽¹⁵³⁾ In the November 1910 election, however, two sitting district judges, Edward T. Burke (1910-1916) of Valley City and Evan B. Goss (1910-1916) of Minot, were elected to replace the appointed ones.⁽¹⁵⁴⁾

[Previous] [Next]

Footnotes:

149. N.D. Const. art IV, § 95 (repealed 1976).

150. See 1907 N.D. Laws, at 410; 1905 N.D. Laws, at 351.

151. See Lounsberry, supra note 1, at 447.

152. See N.D. Const. art. IV § 89 (repealed 1976); 1907 N.D. Laws, at 410.

153. Lounsberry, supra note 1, at 455; Sketch, supra note 2, at 32-33.

154. See Lounsberry, supra note 1, at 455; Sketch, supra note 2, at 34-35.