A. Metropolitan judges shall be elected as provided in Section 34-8A-4.1 NMSA 1978. The governor shall fill vacancies in the office of metropolitan judge, by appointment of persons who possess the personal qualifications established by law, until the next general election.
B. No person shall be eligible for election or appointment to the office of metropolitan judge unless he is a member of the bar of and has practiced in this state for a period of three years. There shall be a chief metropolitan judge of a metropolitan court. The chief metropolitan judge shall designate each metropolitan judge position as a separate and consecutively numbered division, and any additional metropolitan judge authorized within a metropolitan court shall be designated as metropolitan judge of the next consecutive division. A district court judge may designate a metropolitan judge as a special master.
History: Laws 1979, ch. 346, § 4; 1980, ch. 142, § 3; 1981, ch. 11, § 1; 1981, ch. 318, § 1; 1983, ch. 171, § 1; 1984, ch. 115, § 1; 1986, ch. 49, § 6; 1988, ch. 136, § 4; 1989, ch. 283, § 4; 1990, ch. 115, § 4; 1993, ch. 278, § 2.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For classification of counties, see 4-44-1 NMSA 1978.
For selection of metropolitan court judges, see N.M. Const., art. VI, § 37.
For chief judge of metropolitan court, see N.M. Const., art. VI, § 38.
The 1993 amendment, effective January 1, 1994, substituted "chief" for "presiding" in the second and third sentences of Subsection B; and deleted former Subsection C, which specified the salary of each metropolitan judge and stated that the provisions of the Judicial Retirement Act [10-12B-1 to 10-12B-17 NMSA 1978] shall not apply to metropolitan judges.
The 1990 amendment, effective July 6, 1990, in Subsection A, deleted the former first sentence which read "The magistrates of the magistrate court and the judges of the small claims court and of any municipal courts within a class A county shall continue to hold their offices as metropolitan judges of the metropolitan court for the balance of the terms for which they were elected or appointed" and deleted "Thereafter" at the beginning of the present first sentence and, in Subsection C, increased the salary of metropolitan judges from $48,632 to $52,500.
Time for meeting eligibility requirements. — A candidate for metropolitan court judge had to meet the eligibility requirements under former Subsection B at the time of taking the oath of office. Chavez v. Yontz, 1986-NMSC-034, 104 N.M. 265, 720 P.2d 300.
Prohibition against private practice of law constitutionally permissible. — A lawyer is constitutionally denied the privilege of engaging in the private practice of law while serving as a small claims court judge. In prohibiting a small claims court judge from practicing law while in office, the legislature is attaching a lawful condition to the holding of the office. This in no way interferes with the class of persons who are eligible to be chosen to hold public office as prescribed by N.M. Const., art. VII, § 2. 1963 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 63-58 (opinion rendered under former law).