The Judicial Nominating Commission has received 14 applicants for a vacant Oklahoma Supreme Court seat representing the northwest section of the state. Comprised of Oklahoma Bar Association-elected attorneys and a handful of political appointees, the controversial and opaque body will review the applicants and place three options before Gov. Kevin Stitt in early 2025.
After a dramatic campaign successfully unseated the first Oklahoma Supreme Court justice to lose a retention election, the Judicial Nominating Commission began its bureaucratic process for selecting Justice Yvonne Kauger’s successor. Following a scandal that rocked Oklahoma’s partisan-elected judiciary in the 1960s, voters adopted a non-partisan and depoliticized process for selecting judges through the JNC, which survived a legislative effort to abolish it during the 2024 legislative session.
Kauger, 87, narrowly lost a Nov. 5 retention election, falling about 7,000 votes (0.25 percent) shy of earning another six-year term on the court she joined in 1984. Two other justices, James Edmondson and Noma Gurich, were narrowly retained by voters.
When there is a vacancy on the state’s appellate courts, the JNC’s 15 members open an application process for qualified applicants. For the Supreme Court, applicants must be at least 30 years old and must have been a qualified elector within a certain district for at least one year before appointment. They must have been a licensed attorney for at least five years.
After the application window closes, the JNC releases the names of all of applicants to the public before conducting a private vetting process, which includes background checks from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and a public comment opportunity.
“The JNC strongly encourages the public to submit comments on these applicants,” Tuesday’s press release stated.
Underscoring concerns about the limited electronic capabilities within Oklahoma’s court system, the JNC release says public comments may be mailed to one of two addresses in either Oklahoma City or McAlester.
Kauger’s vacated seat consists of last decade’s third congressional district, which runs from Jackson County to Osage County and northwest through the Panhandle. Among the 14 Oklahoma Supreme Court applicants announced Tuesday are eight sitting judges, a former legislator and the former solicitor general who argued the state’s position in McGirt v. Oklahoma before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 14 Oklahoma Supreme Court applicants were presented alphabetically:
- Aric Ammaron Alley, Buffalo, is an associate district judge in Harper County. Born in Shattuck and raised in Woodward, Alley graduated from the OU College of Law in 2005 and was first elected to the bench in 2014;
- Scott Robert Biggs, Stillwater, is a member of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission and an officer in the Oklahoma Air National Guard. A former Republican state House member representing Chickasha and a former state director for the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Biggs graduated from the OU College of Law and worked as an assistant district attorney in multiple districts;
- Donna Lynn Dirickson, Weatherford, is a district judge for Beckham, Custer, Ellis, Roger Mills and Washita counties. She was appointed to that position in November by Stitt after serving as an associate district judge in Custer County since 2009. Before that, she worked as an assistant district attorney. A graduate of Weatherford High School, she holds a juris doctorate from the OCU School of Law;
- Louis Alvin Duel Jr., Guthrie, has been an associate district judge in Logan County since 2010. A graduate of the OCU School of Law, Duel worked as an assistant district attorney before joining the bench. Before that, he worked as a deputy sheriff in the Logan County Sheriff’s Department. He is the uncle of Rep. Collin Duel (R-Guthrie), and he was one of three finalists submitted to Stitt for the vacant district judge seat covering Logan and Payne counties. Stitt chose Jason Reese, his former general counsel, instead of Duel;
- Spencer Tracy Habluetzel, Wheatland, is an attorney with the Buxton Law Group attorney. A 2014 graduate of the OCU School of Law, Habluetzel previously worked with Hall & Ludlum, PLLC. He conducted an externship with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission prior to embarking upon a career in civil litigation;
- Paul Arthur Hesse, Mustang, is a district judge in Canadian County. Gov. Mary Fallin appointed Hesse, an OU College of Law graduate, in 2017. Before joining the bench, he worked as an assistant district attorney in Canadian County, and he clerked for the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Earlier this year, Hesse was appointed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to handle former Garfield County Judge Brian Lovell’s criminal trial. He is also a defendant in an ACLU lawsuit filed in 2019 arguing that the county’s bail schedule is unconstitutional. As of December, the case remains ongoing;
- Travis Verl Jett, Woodward, is an attorney with the Hodgden Law Firm focusing on civil law. Originally from Laverne and a Georgetown University Law Center graduate, he practiced for a decade in Oklahoma City and was a shareholder at GableGotwals before moving to Woodward to join his current firm. Jett has represented the Oklahoma Tax Commission, Corporation Commission, Ethics Commission, Department of Health and State Department of Education in litigation, as well as the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. He was the editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy and served as the National FFA Organization president in 2006;
- Michelle Kirby-Roper, Elk City, is an associate district judge in Beckham County. A graduate of the OCU School of Law, she worked in private practice until her 2010 election as associate district judge. Kirby-Roper’s brother, Richard Kirby, also served as an associate district judge in Oklahoma County from 2007 to 2022. In 2014, she was named judge of the year by Oklahoma CASA;
- Mithun Suresh Mansinghani, Logan County, is a former Oklahoma solicitor general, a position that serves as the state attorney general’s top legal advisor and top appellate attorney. He was appointed by then-Attorney General Mike Hunter in 2017 and left office in 2022. In 2020, he unsuccessfully argued the McGirt v. Oklahoma case on behalf of the state in front of the U.S. Supreme Court — albeit remotely owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. A Harvard Law graduate who served as editor of the Harvard Law Review, Mansinghani is a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohen and member of the Federalist Society;
- Nisha Moreau, Edmond, is a founder and current attorney of the Edmond-based Moreau Law Firm, according to her LinkedIn profile. She attended Georgetown University and received a juris doctorate from SMU Dedman Law School. Moreau previously served as senior counsel for the American Fidelity health insurance company and as the European regional counsel for Mary Kay, Inc.;
- Jon Keith Parsley, Guymon, is a district court judge for Texas, Cimarron, Beaver and Harper counties. Parsley was appointed by former Gov. Mary Fallin in 2014. Prior to that, Parsley worked in private practice, focusing on oil, gas and real estate issues. Parsley was the 2009 president of the Oklahoma Bar Association. He holds a juris doctorate from the OU College of Law;
- Lawrence “Lance” Schneiter IV, Okarche, serves as an associate district judge for Kingfisher County. First elected in 2018, Schneiter previously worked as a private practice attorney, with an emphasis on oil and gas cases and business disputes. According to posts on his 2018 campaign Facebook page, Schneiter also provided pro bono representation for children in custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Schneiter holds a juris doctorate from the OU College of Law;
- Chelsea Celsor Smith, Leedey, is an attorney who currently operates a legal consulting firm. Smith previously served as general counsel to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, from 2013 to 2021. She has also worked in private practice, including time of counsel with the Hall Estill law firm. She previously worked as director of legal services for Helsinn Therapeutics. Smith graduated from the OCU School of Law in 2011; and
- Stuart Lee Tate, Fairfax, is a district judge in Osage County after Stitt appointed him to the post in 2020. Prior to his appointment, Tate had served as special judge in Osage County since 2010. Tate previously worked as an assistant district attorney, also in Osage County. He is a graduate of the OCU School of Law.
(Correction: This article was updated at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, to correct reference to Chelsea Celsor Smith’s tenure as general counsel for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. It was updated again at 5 p.m. to correct reference to the current place of employment for Spencer Tracy Habluetzel.)
