Gutierrez seeks Supreme Court seat

Judge Sergio Gutierrez, one of four candidates seeking election to an open seat on the Idaho Supreme Court, said his life has been described many times as “the fulfillment of the American dream.”

He is the only Latino to serve as a judge in Idaho.

Today, Gutierrez, 63, is a senior judge on the Idaho Court of Appeals.

Known by his colleagues as “Judge G,” his career on the bench began in 1993 when he was appointed by Gov. Cecil Andrus to serve as a district judge in Canyon County. He served in that position for eight years.

Gutierrez was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2002 by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.

He was born in Mexico and was brought to the U.S. when his parents immigrated to the country. Gutierrez was 1 year old. The family faced the struggle of adapting to a new culture and a new language.

There was also family dsyfunction, he said, and ultimately, he was raised by his grandmother until he was 13. After that, he was on his own.

“Fortunately, one might say, I was saved by the work being done by the Job Corps,” Gutierrez said.

He joined and earned his GED when he was 16. He also learned about the carpentry trade.

When he arrived in Idaho in 1975, he realized the dream of going to college. While raising a young family and living in Nampa, he worked full-time and attended Boise State University at night. In 1980, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating with honors.

His journey to the bench began when he was hired by legal services to work with the farmworker population in southern Idaho.

“That’s what motivated me to go to law school. It was an eye-opener to see the condidtions under which they lived and worked, and having very few protections and seeing them operate, in some sense, as hopeless when it came to asserting their rights when it came to employment, housing and in the area of pesticide protection,” Gutierrez said.

The language barrier was a major obstacle for the farmworkers when it came to deciding whether to pursue claims.

“There was no real belief that they could pursue any claim successfully, in those days, so I decided to go to law school and then come back with legal services and go back to serve that population as a lawyer.”

He did that for eight years before his first appointment to serve as a district judge.

Some of the greatest challenges faced by the Idaho Supreme Court today are the same faced throughout the nation, he said.

“What we are seeing, and which would impact our court system, in a very direct way, would be the effect of the justice system becoming politicized, and where big money could influence who holds office. It’s so important to maintain the integrity of the courts through the judges,” he said, noting there is movement in that direction around the country. “I think there needs to be a Supreme Court along with the bar that is ahead of the ball in educating and having a strong position on those issues.”

One advantage Gutierrez has as a candidate stems from his longtime position on the Court of Appeals. He already has statewide judicial responsibility, as does the Supreme Court.

He said his work in the courts has been focused on serving as a leader.

Gutierrez has done work for the Supreme Court by serving as chair of the court’s Fairness and Equality Committee and co-chairing the Supreme Court’s Judges Recruitment and Retention Committee, and he currently chairs the Language Access Committee.

“People may not be very much aware of the importance of that work,” Gutierrez said. “For instance, in Ada County last year, through our court interpreter program, we had close to 50 different languages for which court interpreters were required.”

His leadership style is described as collaborative, often bringing stakeholders together to solve problems and issues.

He was married, raised four children and he has eight grandchildren.

“The work that I do is intended to create a better future for our families, our children and our youth,” Gutierrez said.

He said he’s been in other races that have brought him to Coeur d’Alene: Ironman races. Gutierrez participated in the inaugural triathalon in the Lake City, and two more times after that.

Gutierrez encourages voters to look at the last pages of the ballot and make sure they have a chance to vote on the judges.

“I’ve had folks tell me, ‘I didn’t see your name on the ballot,’” Gutierrez said.