Steven D. Ecker

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Steven D. Ecker is a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court. He assumed office on May 3, 2018. His current term ends on May 3, 2026.

Ecker became a member of the court by appointment. He was nominated by Gov. Dan Malloy (D) in April 2018.^[1] He was sworn in to the bench on May 3, 2018.^[2] To read more about judicial selection in Connecticut, click here.

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.^[3] Ecker received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.^[4] Click here to read more about this study.

Ecker was previously a judge of the New Haven District Superior Court in Connecticut.^[5] Malloy nominated him on March 14, 2014, and the Connecticut General Assembly confirmed his nomination that year.^[2]

Biography

Ecker earned an undergraduate degree from Yale University, magna cum laude, in 1984 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1987. During his legal studies, he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.^[2]

Ecker clerked for Judge Jon O. Newman of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit after law school. Ecker then worked as an attorney at Jacobs, Grudberg, Belt & Dow, P.C. and at Cowdery, Ecker & Murphy LLC. In 2014, he was appointed to the New Haven District Superior Court. He served there until 2018, when Malloy appointed him to the Connecticut Supreme Court.^[2]

Appointments

2018

Gov. Malloy nominated Ecker to the Connecticut Supreme Court in April 2018. Ecker was sworn into office in May 2018.^[1]^[2]

2014

Malloy appointed Ecker to the New Haven District Superior Court.^[5]

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.^[6]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

Strong Democrat
Mild Democrat
Indeterminate^[7]
Mild Republican
Strong Republican

This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.

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Steven
Ecker

Connecticut

Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat
Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission
Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
- State was a Democratic trifecta at time of appointment

Partisan Profile

Details:

Ecker was appointed by Gov. Dan Malloy (D) in 2018. At the time of his appointment, Connecticut was a Democratic trifecta. He donated $250 to both Republicans and Democrats.

State supreme court judicial selection in Connecticut

See also: Judicial selection in Connecticut

The seven justices on the Connecticut Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission is responsible for screening candidates and submitting a shortlist to the governor. The commission is made up of 12 members: six appointed by the governor and six appointed by leaders in the state legislature. The governor must appoint a justice from the commission's shortlist and the appointee must then be confirmed by a majority vote of the Connecticut General Assembly.^[8]^[9]

Justices serve for eight years after their appointment. To continue to serve on the court, they must be renominated by the governor and reapproved by the General Assembly.^[9]

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must be:

a state resident;
licensed to practice law in the state; and
under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).^[10]

Chief justice

The chief justice is appointed by the governor and confirmed by a majority vote of the Connecticut General Assembly. In the event of a vacancy, however, the governor may nominate an associate justice to serve as chief without involving the judicial nominating commission. Chief justices appointed this way will serve out the remainder of their predecessor's term rather than a full eight years, which is the typical term length of the chief justice.^[8]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list with legislative approval. The new appointee serves an eight-year term.^[11]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

External links

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Officeholder

Connecticut Supreme Court

Website

Footnotes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 The Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy, "Gov. Malloy Nominates Justice Robinson as Chief Justice and Judge Ecker as Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court," April 5, 2018
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Biographies of Supreme Court Justices, Associate Justice Steven D. Ecker," accessed June 23, 2021
↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 Dannel P. Malloy, Governor of Connecticut, "Gov. Malloy nominates judges Eliot Prescott and Raheem Mullins to appellate court, names 16 others to Superior Court," March 14, 2014
↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Sec. 51-44a. Judicial Selection Commission. Members. Duties. Nomination of judges by Governor.," accessed March 28, 2023
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Article Fifth. of the Judicial Department - Sec. 2.," accessed March 28, 2023
↑ State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Frequently Asked Media Questions," accessed March 28, 2023
↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023

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Judicial selection in Connecticut • Courts in Connecticut

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Chase Rogers • Flemming Norcott • Joette Katz • Richard Palmer • Peter Zarella • Barry Schaller • William Sullivan (Connecticut) • Christine Vertefeuille • David Bordon • Ian McLachlan • Lubbie Harper • Christine E. Keller • Carmen E. Espinosa • Dennis G. Eveleigh • David M. Borden (Connecticut) •

Connecticut courts

Federal courts:

Second Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Connecticut • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Connecticut

State courts:

Connecticut Supreme Court • Connecticut Appellate Court • Connecticut Superior Court • Connecticut Probate Courts

State resources:

Courts in Connecticut • Connecticut judicial elections • Judicial selection in Connecticut

[scnom-1] 1.0 ^1.1 The Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy, "Gov. Malloy Nominates Justice Robinson as Chief Justice and Judge Ecker as Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court," April 5, 2018

[bio-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Biographies of Supreme Court Justices, Associate Justice Steven D. Ecker," accessed June 23, 2021

[3] We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.

[4] The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.

[nominations-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Dannel P. Malloy, Governor of Connecticut, "Gov. Malloy nominates judges Eliot Prescott and Raheem Mullins to appellate court, names 16 others to Superior Court," March 14, 2014

[6] The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.

[7] An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.

[commission-8] 8.0 ^8.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Sec. 51-44a. Judicial Selection Commission. Members. Duties. Nomination of judges by Governor.," accessed March 28, 2023

[supremecourt-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Connecticut General Assembly, "Article Fifth. of the Judicial Department - Sec. 2.," accessed March 28, 2023

[10] State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Frequently Asked Media Questions," accessed March 28, 2023

[11] Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023

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