Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel speaks during oral arguments, in Phoenix on April 20, 2021.
Arizona Supreme Court Justice Robert Brutinel announced Tuesday that he is retiring at the end of October.
Brutinel was appointed to the bench by Governor Jan Brewer in 2010. He was elected by the other justices to serve a five-year term as Chief Justice, a post he held until July of this year. As Chief Justice, he was one of two dissenting votes when the court upheld Arizona's 1864 ban on abortions.
Governor Katie Hobbs will now get her first Supreme Court pick. In Arizona, the three candidates to fill Supreme Court vacancies are sent to the governor by the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. They may not all be from the same party or the same county. The governor then picks someone from that list. Unlike U-S Supreme Court justices, the governor's pick does not have to be approved by the state senate.
Brutinel received his law degree from the University of Arizona and served as the Presiding Judge of the Yavapai County Superior Court before becoming a justice on the state's highest court.
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