Having a Dream Team of six former state Supreme Court justices brings more than just brain power to a lawsuit seeking to strike down a new law giving the governor a larger pool for appointing judges.

A state commission on Monday interviews nine applicants for an Arizona Supreme Court opening.

The state’s solicitor general and the chief judge, of the Arizona Court of Appeals are among 14 applicants vying to fill a vacancy on the Arizona Supreme Court.

It seems few people are interested in signing up for a full-time, unpaid job that will immediately make them one of the most controversial people in the state.

The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, which is tasked with nominating candidates for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, has only received four applications for the vacant chairman’s post, and one is likely ineligible.

The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments will delve a little deeper into the backgrounds of its next crop of redistricting commission applicants.

The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the replacement process for ousted Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis. The judicial nominating panel will meet at 1 p.m. at the Arizona State Courts Building.

The conservative principle of eliminating judicial merit selection now has a poster child for Sen. Ron Gould, a Lake Havasu City Republican, who on Jan. 31 filed a stack of proposals to change how Arizona chooses its judges.

The impetus for the latest Republican effort to eliminate Arizona’s process of judicial merit selection has nothing to do with judicial merit selection.

The process of picking Arizona's next Independent Redistricting Commission took a dramatic turn Dec. 14 when a legislative leader threatened to sue and a member of a selection committee resigned as criticism mounted over religious comments he made.

Speaker of the House Kirk Adams let fly an accusation of religious discrimination Dec. 13 against a state commission that chooses nominees for the Independent Redistricting Commission. Adams said in a press release that it appears Christopher Gleason, a Tucson applicant for the Independent Redistricting Commission, was blocked by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments because of his faith.