State lawmakers are again trying to change Oklahoma’s Supreme Court districts.
House and Senate bills would align five judicial districts with Oklahoma’s congressional districts and set the other four as at-large districts. Rep. Shane Stone said with Oklahoma’s population shifting to urban areas, the change is a matter of representation.
" For me and for many other representatives from Oklahoma City and from Tulsa, we’ve seen our populations boom, but we continue to see many Supreme Court justices that are from outside those new population areas, outside of those new pockets," Stone said.
Rep. David Perryman agreed with proponents that the state’s population is moving from rural to urban areas, but he did not agree that the court should follow.
"That doesn’t mean that a broad … understanding of what we as rural Oklahomans face should not be reflected," Perryman said.
Perryman says the change will make it harder for rural attorneys to make the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Rep. Chris Kannady said as more Oklahomans, including attorneys, move to cities, it gets tougher to find qualified nominees in rural judicial districts.
"And everyone in this chamber should want this to be a competitive process where we get three names sent to the governor, and the governor has a tough choice to make in determining who is going to be the next Supreme Court justice in that district," Kannady said.
The proposals also align the Court of Criminal Appeals districts with congressional districts.
