Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

ACLU disputes term of judge’s appointment in North Las Vegas

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a lawsuit this week in Clark County District Court against North Las Vegas after the city appointed a judge to a six-year term.

But city officials are denying any wrongdoing and say they followed the city charter.

North Las Vegas adopted an ordinance Feb. 17 to create a new Municipal Court department — the Community Approach to Rehabilitation and Engagement (CARE) Court — and appoint Judge Christopher Lee to a six-year term to serve on the new court.

The court is a therapeutic treatment court to address underlying causes of defendants’ criminal behavior and seeks to reduce recidivism, according to North Las Vegas.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU says the ordinance directly violates the North Las Vegas City Charter approved by the Nevada Legislature, which mandates that when the city appoints a judge to fill a vacant position in the Municipal Court, the appointment cannot extend beyond the first day of the month following the next general municipal election.

The next municipal elections in North Las Vegas are June and November of 2022, which is five years and two full election cycles before Lee’s appointment would end, the ACLU said in a statement.

It is asking the court to require the city to hold an election for the seat during the 2022 election cycle.

“In courts throughout the state, appointments fill vacant judicial seats until the next election cycle because Nevada voters, not government officials, determine who ultimately serves as a judge in this state,” Sophia Romero, the ACLU of Nevada’s senior staff attorney, said in the statement.

“The city of North Las Vegas’ decision to appoint a judge to a six-year term without an election ignores the will of the city’s voters and violates the plain language of the North Las Vegas City Charter,” Romero said.

North Las Vegas Assistant City Manager Delen Goldberg said the ACLU failed to read the entire charter, which says that “when you’re creating a department, it’s different rules than if you were filling a vacancy.”

Just about every governing board staggers election cycles for the people serving, she said, that way if half of the board gets voted out and replaced, there are people still left with experience to show the new members the ropes.

The North Las Vegas City Council, for example, has five members, Goldberg said. Three go up for election at once, and the other two go up the next election.

“If you have everybody leave at the same time, then it stops business, and you have to train everybody,” she said.

Looking at the timing of when the court was created, the next election would be in 2022, Goldberg said, but second department Judge Sean Hoeffgen’s term of six years is up in 2022.

“If we appointed the judge for the CARE Court and then set the election for the next election, we’d have both judges up for election right now,” Goldberg said. “And then theoretically they could both lose and not get elected, and then we have nobody who knows anything about the court really there.”

Goldberg said the city did not receive any questions or hear any concerns from community members regarding Lee’s appointment. There were four council meetings at which the new department was discussed, she said.

The lawsuit has not yet been served to North Las Vegas, Goldberg said.