On March 14, 2019, New Zealand‘s new chief justice, The Right Honourable Chief Justice Dame Helen Winkelmann GNZM, was sworn in at the Supreme Court in Wellington. She replaces Dame Sian Elias, who retired on March 13, 2019, from the role to which she was appointed in 1999. Since that time, the Supreme Court of New Zealand was established in 2004, replacing the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom as the highest court in the New Zealand court hierarchy.
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced Winkelmann’s appointment in December 2018. There were no hearings in Parliament, and no votes were conducted. Given the vast differences in the appointment process compared to the US (and other countries), I thought it was an opportune time to take a look at the rules and practices that apply in New Zealand when it comes to judicial appointments, and the appointment of the chief justice in particular. (I guess this post also fits with Women’s History Month