Religious liberty is at risk in the United States and deserves the highest level of protection in the law.
No Answer
The Ten Commandments should not be displayed in public school buildings or court houses.
No Answer
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
pease see response to #19
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality which is necessary for our system of limited government.
No Answer
George Washington's comment that “Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society” is still true today.
No Answer
What in the nature of mankind caused America’s Founders to carefully define, separate, and limit powers in the Constitution?
The preamble to the US Const. answers this question: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
Spritual values are human values: Kindness, humanity, honesty, faith, hope,decency, and courage. They bind us together, no matter what religion or personal belief system a person has.
In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges allowing members of the same sex to marry, which justice’s opinion in that case most closely approximates your understanding of marriage?
please see response to #19
I voted in these primaries and general elections:
2012 General Election, 2014 General Election, 2016 General Election, 2018 General Election
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and immigration, which of the following best describes you overall?
No Answer
Please provide publicly available information validating your answer to the previous question.
Nevada judges and justice are forbidden by the canons of judicial ethics from publicly expressing personal beliefs and policy-based views that could be taken as committing the judge or justice to a particular position in a future case. Our job is to decide each case honestly and fairly according to law, both statutory and constitutional--calling balls and strikes, in the words of Chief Justice Roberts. In Nevada, the law goes further and provides we cannot volunteer our political party affiliation. These limitations make it improper for me to answer the question above and some of the others as well.
What education or experience qualifies you to hold the office for which you seek election?
I have been a Justice on the Nevada Supreme Court since 2009 and currently serve as its Chief Justice. During my years on the court, I have worked hard to be prepared, to faithfully apply the law, and to uphold the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions. I am deeply committed to the rule of law and to access to justice.
In what areas of law have you practiced?
Before joining the Supreme Court in 2009 I tried cases and argued appeals in Nevada's state and federal courts for more than 25 years. I handled civil and commercial litigation in a wide range of areas.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.
No
Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?
It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as a justice on the Nevada Supreme Court. My record shows the work I have done, both in deciding cases in the diverse areas of law that affect Nevadans--constitutional law, family law, water law, employment law, criminal law, civil tort and commercial law--and in adminstering justice. Humbling, I ask you to support my reelection.
The U.S. Constitution and my state constitution should be interpreted as living documents, rather than using a strict constructionist or originalist approach in judicial decisions.
Disagree
There are times when American judges should alter U.S. case law in order to comply with foreign case law.
No Answer
I support the use of Sharia law as a basis for legislation and judicial decisions in the United States.
No Answer
There should be more than nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Disagree
Which current U.S. Supreme Court justice best reflects your judicial philosophy?
Chief Justice John Roberts
Which U.S. president serving after 1960 best reflects your political philosophy?
George H.W. Bush
What is the proper use of legislative history in interpreting statutory law?
Although judges have limits on what they can answer (see #19 below), I can answer this question because I have authored a number of opinions stating and apply these principles: Statutory interpretation begins with the text of the statute, read in the context of the statutory enactment of which it forms a part. If the answer is unclear, the analysis moves to canons of statutory interpretation. For a listing of those, please see the late Justice Scalia's book, Scalia & Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (2012). Only if, after reading the statute's plain text and applying the canons, the statute is ambiguous does the court move to legislative history to disambiguate the text.
What specific text in the Declaration of Independence provides the critical basis for individual rights and the form of government guaranteed in the United States Constitution?
The entirety, but especially the preamble: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
