Chief Justice Rose will run for third term

Chief Justice Bob Rose said Thursday he'll run for a third term on the Nevada Supreme Court.

Rose, 60, said many of the internal problems the court had in the past are gone now and he feels the seven justices are not only working well together but they are taking strides to improve Nevada's courts.

"Things have changed a lot in a year," he said. "I'm enjoying the job and feel I'm really contributing."

Rose said with seven justices sitting in smaller panels on many smaller cases, the court has cut its backlog from more than 2,500 to fewer than 2,000 cases. The court expanded from five to seven justices 18 months ago.

"This reduces the time it takes to appeal the cases," he said. "The lower the backlog, the quicker we decide your case on appeal."

He said the court has also installed a new, uniform system of judicial recordkeeping statewide "that's going to be extremely important in the future."

The court is also resolving many disputes through settlement conferences.

And he said the high court created a strong chief judge's position in both Washoe and Clark counties to give more guidance to those systems.

He said these improvements make more time for justices to improve their opinions and to deal with issues that appear repeatedly in different cases, hopefully resolving them once and for all so that prosecutors and defense lawyers statewide have a clear guidelines to follow.

"We're trying to write a quality product with our opinions and be consistent," he said.

Rose is nearing the end of his second, six year term on the high court. He said he wanted to make it clear early that he intends to run again. He has already raised about $25,000 for his campaign.

No one has surfaced as yet to challenge him for the seat.

Before serving on the court, Rose was a Clark County district judge, Nevada's lieutenant governor and Washoe County district attorney.

"As a former district attorney and prosecutor, I know the best protection we can give our citizens is to make the criminal justice system function properly and promptly," he said. "Because of our recent reforms, most criminal cases appealed to the Supreme Court are now decided in less than one year."

He said he also wants to propose a system that puts cases involving senior citizens on a "fast track."

He said seniors who have been victimized should not have to suffer through more delays because of the time it takes their case to get through the court system.