The process to confirm Associate Justice Vladimir Devens as the next Chief Justice of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court recently hit rough waters.
Devens has been an associate justice on the state Supreme Court for two years and was nominated by Gov. Josh Green for the new position to supersede Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, who retired in September due to Hawaiʻi's requirement for judges to retire at age 70. If elected, Devens would hold the seat for 10 years.
But local reporting revealed that he was involved with a political action committee, Be Change Now, which he did not disclose in his application for chief justice. His involvement caused concerns for some members in the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Sen. Karl Rhoads and Sen. Joy San Buenaventura, who voted against confirming Devens.
“It's a sad day for me. This is my 70th judicial confirmation since I became JDC chair eight years ago. I supported the previous 69, and this is the first time where I felt like I wasn't getting all the information needed to make my decision from the paperwork or the nominee themselves,” Rhoads said. “Too many important facts came to my attention through the press. For those reasons, I reluctantly recommend that we not consent to the nomination.”
Devens was a part of a three-member director board of Be Change Now, a super PAC overseen by Pacific Resource Partnership. PRP is the advocacy arm for the Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters, the state's largest construction union.
“I did not view that as a negative in and of itself, or as a negative reflection on me, and that was my perception,” Devens said in response to being asked about his involvement with the PAC.
Sen. Stanley Chang was one of the three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted in favor of Devens' confirmation. He said his track record and integrity outweigh the information that was withheld from his application.
“I thought he was remarkably open about potentially negative information,” Chang said. “Rather than speculating about hypotheticals, I wanted to look at his record, and he has one. Now that he's been on the court for two years, not one piece of testimony suggested that the opinions and decisions that he rendered in his service on the court were not independent or impartial, indeed, quite the opposite.”
The recommendation for Devens to be the next chief justice received consent from the committee in a 3-2 vote and will be heard by the full Senate floor next.
