Barton Voigt
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Barton R. Voigt is a former justice for the Wyoming Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court on March 29, 2001 by former Governor Jim Geringer. Voigt served as chief justice from 2006 to 2010. He retired from the court on January 3, 2014.[1]
Education
Voigt received both his undergraduate degree and master's degrees in American history from the University of Wyoming. He received his J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law.[2]
Career
After graduating from law school, Voigt served as a prosecuting attorney for Hot Springs County for two terms. Next, he served as a county judge in Gillette for two years and then served as a district judge in Douglas, Wyoming for eight years. In 2001, Voigt joined the Wyoming Supreme Court.[3]
2010 election
Voigt was retained to the Wyoming Supreme Court in 2010.[4]
- Main article: Wyoming judicial elections, 2010
Noteworthy cases
Matthew Shepard case
Voigt dismissed a "homosexual rage" defense in the Matthew Shepard case, which had been part of the defense team's efforts to have the charges against Aaron McKinney reduced to manslaughter. The jury would find McKinney guilty of felony murder, and he would be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole.[5]
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Voigt received a campaign finance score of 1.3, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.37 that justices received in Wyoming.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[6]
See also
- Courts in Wyoming
- Judicial selection in Wyoming
- News: Voigt announces retirement from Wyoming Supreme Court, August 28, 2013
External links
- Wyoming Supreme Court, Justices of the Wyoming Supreme Court
- Project Vote Smart, Justice Barton R. Voight (WY)
- 2008 State of the Judiciary Address
- trib.com, "Voigt accomplished much as Wyo chief justice," June 11, 2010
Footnotes
- ↑ Billings Gazette, "Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Voigt to retire," August 27, 2013
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, Justice Barton R. Voigt (WY)
- ↑ Justice Voigt bio from Wyoming courts (dead link)
- ↑ Wyoming Secretary of State, Statewide Judicial Retention Results
- ↑ Salon.com "Quiet bombshell in Shepard case," November 1, 1999
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
Federal courts:
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Wyoming • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Wyoming
State courts:
Wyoming Supreme Court • Wyoming District Courts • Wyoming Circuit Courts • Wyoming Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Wyoming • Wyoming judicial elections • Judicial selection in Wyoming
