Burdick seeks second full term on Idaho Supreme Court

COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho Supreme Court Justice Roger Burdick said he should be voted in for another six-year term because he has acquired decades of experience and maintained the trust and respect of lawyers and judges in the state.

Burdick said he's the only judge in Idaho who has been the president of both the magistrate association and district judges association.

"So I think the other judges have confidence in my leadership," said Burdick, 62.

And, he added, "When you spend 28 years in the system you have a track record of something that the lawyers, other judges, and community leaders know, and you can certainly ask all of them" about his work in Idaho.

Burdick, who currently lives in Boise, is running against 2nd District Judge John Bradbury of Grangeville.

Burdick said as a justice he would continue to treat everybody who appears before him in court equally, whether it's finding the facts in cases or reading and applying the laws on the books.

"Now that's all people can ask from their judges," he said in an interview at the Coeur d'Alene Press. "I learned that being a magistrate judge in Jerome."

He said he has carried that through every place he has been.

If a judge favors one side on one occasion, people will always be wondering who will get the special treatment the next time, he said.

"So you can't do it," he said. "That's the main thing. That's the thing I feel strongly about."

Burdick's experience includes 12 years as a magistrate judge in Jerome, and 10 years as a district judge in Twin Falls. He spent three years as the judge administering water rights for the Snake River Basin. He said his experience in water rights law is valuable to the state.

He was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2003 by then Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, and was retained by popular election in 2004. He was appointed Vice Chief Justice of the court in 2007.

Burdick is a University of Idaho law school graduate. He worked in private practice after law school, as a deputy prosecutor and as a public defender. He was elected the prosecutor of Jerome County before becoming a judge.