One of the two candidates for Idaho Supreme Court has never argued a case there

One of the two candidates for the Idaho Supreme Court acknowledged in a televised debate Friday night that he’s never argued a case before either the Idaho Supreme Court or the Idaho Court of Appeals.

Curt McKenzie said his experience has been in front of district judges and magistrates. “Those are the courts that most people see,” he added.

His opponent, attorney Robyn Brody, said, “Experience is incredibly important. And the fact that Mr. McKenzie has never stood in front of the Idaho Supreme Court is something that concerns me greatly.”

McKenzie said he wrote some appellate briefs early in his career. “The legal analysis that I did on those cases, the kind of complex civil litigation that we practiced there, the extensive brief-writing that we did, is all important background for someone who’s going to be on the court,” he said.

Brody countered that she has 20 years experience litigating in front of county commissions, planning and zoning boards, magistrate court, and has appeared before the Idaho Supreme Court nine times.

McKenzie said his practice, when he was with a large law firm early in his career, was mostly either in federal court or out-of-state courts. “And then most of my experience in my own firm has been at the trial level, so I have that extensive experience and it’s a useful experience,” he said. “But I would say what I look for in a justice is not simply that you’ve argued a few cases before the Supreme Court, but that fundamental judicial philosophy that’s going to inform all your cases.”

Brody, who holds both a law degree and a master’s degree in international management from the University of Denver, said she and McKenzie don’t really differ in judicial philosophy. “The things that he’s talking about, textualism and originalism … those are things that are bred into us in law school,” she said. “That’s the way we approach legal questions today. We ask, ‘What does this statute say,’ not, ‘What do we want it to say?’ ”

The two also differed over the significance of an Idaho State Bar survey of attorneys across the state this month, in which Brody was rated nearly twice as high as McKenzie in her qualifications to serve on the high court.

McKenzie cited a Harvard University study that he said shows lawyers in general tend to be liberal. “It doesn’t surprise me that lawyers tend to lean towards someone who had served as president of the trial lawyers association over someone who most of them know only as a conservative Republican state senator,” he said, noting that Republican leaders of both the Idaho Senate and House have endorsed him.

Brody countered, “We’re talking about reputation, something that’s taken me 20 years to earn. That’s why the bar scores are what they are. It’s not simply a reflection of bias. It’s a reflection of people knowing me, and most importantly trusting me.”