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STATE EX REL. NEW MEXICO JUDICIAL STANDARDS COMMISSION V.
ESPINOSA, 2003-NMSC-017, 134 N.M. 59, 73 P.3d 197

STATE OF NEW MEXICO, ex rel., NEW MEXICO JUDICIAL STANDARDS
COMMISSION and COMMISSIONERS, DOUGLAS W. TURNER, chair, lay member,
TERESA G. CHAPARRO, vice-chair, lay member, HON. FRANK H. ALLEN, district
judge member, HON. FRANK K. WILSON, district judge member, HON. BUDDY HALL,
magistrate judge member, KATHLEEN M. BRANDT, Esq., attorney member, MARK A.
FILOSA, Esq., attorney member, MARIE N. GARCIA-SHAFFNER, lay member,
DANIEL H. HOUCK, lay member, FRANCIS McKINNEY-FERGUSON, lay member, and
JAMES W. TOOKE, lay member, Petitioners,
v.
VALERIE ESPINOSA, ZOLENE KNOTT, ESTHER MARQUEZ, PAUL SENA, Dr.
GLORIA TARADASH, and SHIRLEY WILLIAMS, Purported Appointees, Respondents,
and
HONORABLE BILL RICHARDSON, Governor of New Mexico, Real Party in Interest.

Docket No. 28,040
SUPREME COURT OF NEW MEXICO
2003-NMSC-017, 134 N.M. 59, 73 P.3d 197
July 2, 2003, Filed
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING ON QUO WARRANTO.
As Corrected September 23, 2003. Released for Publication July 23, 2003.
COUNSEL
Hon. Frank K. Wilson, Alamogordo, New Mexico for Petitioners.
Patricia Madrid, Attorney General, David K. Thomson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, New Mexico for Respondents.
Eugene Zamora, Santa Fe, New Mexico, for Real Party in Interest.

JUDGES
PETRA JIMENEZ MAES, Chief Justice. WE CONCUR:  EDWARD L. CHAVEZ, Justice, PATRICIO
M. SERNA, Justice (specially concurring). PAMELA B. MINZNER, Justice (dissenting), RICHARD C.
BOSSON, Justice (dissenting). AUTHOR: PETRA JIMENEZ MAES.

OPINION
MAES, Chief Justice.
{1} Petitioners, members of the Judicial Standards Commission (Commission), filed a petition for a writ of quo warranto with this Court, seeking to stop Governor Bill Richardson from removing the six lay members of the Commission and replacing them with new gubernatorial appointees. We issued a stay of any further business while we determined whether the Governor has the authority to remove prior gubernatorial appointees to the Commission.  We hold that Article V, Section 5 of the New Mexico Constitution grants the governor the right to remove and replace lay members of the Commission.  We therefore deny the petition for the writ and lift the stay of Commission business.


BACKGROUND
{2} The Commission was created in 1967.  Its purpose is "to oversee and investigate the performance, conduct and fitness of members of the judiciary." 1967 Report of the Constitutional Revision Commission at 88.  The Commission is made up of 11 members.  Two members are district court judges and a third must be a magistrate judge.  Those members are appointed by this Court. See NMSA 1978,

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New Mexico Law