Mark Salter
Non-Partisan | South Dakota
Candidate Profile*
Moderate
*Additional information appears below for educational purposes; however, only data received prior to the candidate deadline was considered during Panel Evaluation.
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Mark Salter
Party
Non-Partisan
Election Year
2022
Election
General
Race
2nd Supreme Court District (retention)
Incumbent
Yes
Links
EDUCATION
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WORK & MILITARY
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AFFILIATIONS
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POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
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POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
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Race
ENDORSEMENTS*
*These endorsements were received after the deadline and were not considered in the Panel Evaluations and are for additional educational purposes only.
CONSERVATIVE (1)
*Judge Voter Guide
OTHER INFORMATION
Justice Mark Salter has served on the South Dakota Supreme Court since 2018, after being appointed by Governor Dennis Daugaard (R). He previously served as a judge on the South Dakota Second Judicial Circuit since 2012.
Notable Cases:
- Thom v. Barnett (2021): Justice Salter wrote a special concurrence/dissent in part. In a case where the majority struck down a marijuana voter initiative for violating SD's single-subject provision, Justice Salter agreed with the majority that the single-subject rule was violated, yet he found that the question of whether the entire amendment was void should have been left for another day. He argued that the proponents of the initiative sought separability based on a provision in the amendment, which cannot be the foundation for the court separating a provision.
- In the Matter of the Order Regarding Custer County Courthouse (2021): Justice Salter signed Justice Jensen's order affirming a Seventh Circuit Judge's decision that all proceedings in the Custer County Courthouse ought to be held via audiovisual means pursuant to SDCL 16-6-7, due to a local ordinance allowing firearms to be carried in the courthouse (2). The lower court said that the ordinance made the courthouse "unsuitable and insufficient due to safety concerns for court proceedings" (2).
- State v. Buffalo Chip (2020): Justice Salter signed Justices Kern and DeVaney's majority opinions. Affirmed a lower court's decision to dissolve Buffalo Chip's municipal incorporation as a city and held that Buffalo Chip failed to satisfy the residency requirements in SDCL 9-3-1 (2). The relevant law required that a municipality not have "less than one hundred residents or less than thirty voters" in order to be incorporated (16). Buffalo Chip had thirty or more voters at the time, but it did not have one hundred residents (16). It argued that, since it fulfilled one of the requirements, that it ought to have been able to incorporate. The Court held that since the provision was listing prohibitions, rather than affirmative requirements, Buffalo Chip was required to fulfill both criteria in order to incorporate (17). "As used in this sentence, 'or' means 'or.' Under either scenario, a municipality is not allowed to incorporate (18). Said that "and" ought to have been used if Buffalo Chip's preferred meaning were intended by the legislature (19). Rejected Buffalo Chip's argument that the legislature's later amendment of the statute to make the Court's interpretation in this case explicitly clear indicated that the interpretation had changed because the Court held that the text of SCDL 9-3-1 was clear as written (19).
Other Information:
- Ballotpedia's partisanship study rated Justice Salter's pre-judicial political activities as being that of a "Mild Republican"
QUESTIONNAIRE
VALUES
I agree with Critical Race Theory (CRT) which asserts that the institutions in the United States are fundamentally racist.
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Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality that is necessary for our system of limited government.
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Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
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What types of pro bono work have you done?
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ABOUT YOU
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized in either civil or criminal court for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.
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What education or experience qualifies you to hold the office for which you seek election?
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Why should the voters choose you?
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I voted in these primaries and general elections:
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JUDICIAL PHILOSOPHY
Justices should not interpret the federal and state constitutions as living documents, but should use a textualist and originalist approach to interpretation.
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What is the proper use of legislative history in interpreting statutory law?
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Which current or past U.S. Supreme Court justice best reflects your judicial philosophy?
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How should a court address the balance between public health and individual freedoms in the time of a pandemic?
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In light of the case Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include a prohibition on sexual-orientation discrimination, which justice’s opinion most closely aligns with your own opinion?
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What role (if any) does a judge have in maintaining the separation of church and state?
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Religious liberty is at risk in the United States and deserves the highest level of protection in the law.
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When should a judge overturn past court decisions?
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How should a judge determine which rights are protected by the Constitution even though they are not specifically mentioned?
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What legal principles should a court consider when evaluating parents’ objection to their child obtaining medical procedures or drugs designed to affirm the child’s desired gender?
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What principles should guide a court’s analysis of whether your state’s constitution gives terminally ill patients a right to assisted suicide?
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Would you describe your judicial philosophy as originalist, living constitutionalist, or something else?
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