Supreme Court: Don Chairez

Name: Don Chairez

Age: 52

Campaign Web site: www.chairez.com

Education: USC School of Law 1980

Profession: Lawyer & Former District Court Judge

Political experience: Republican Candidate for Congress 1998, Republican Candidate for Attorney General 2006, Elected District Court Judge in 1994 and in 1996.

Please write a short biography of yourself (you might include such things as birthplace, career, community involvement, family, etc.):

I was born on September 29, 1955, in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. I spent my childhood on army bases throughout the United States and the Panama Canal Zone. I earned a scholarship to attend USC Law School and graduated in 1980.

I have been married 24 years to Maria Chairez, an educator with the Clark County School District. Maria and I have two daughters, Monica, age 22 who is a Journalism student at UNLV, and Marina, age 17, who is a student at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nevada.

Have you ever been arrested? If so, when and for what offense?

No.

As a prospective judge, what do you consider your greatest strengths? Weaknesses?

My greatest strengths are Courage and Independence. My greatest weaknesses are that I work too hard, I'm a perfectionist, and don't like to take time off unless the job is done.

What has been your greatest accomplishment in your legal career? In your personal life?

The passage of Ballot Question 2 in 2006, the Nevada Property Owners' Bill of Rights, more popularly known as PISTOL (the People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land).

I am proud that my wife and I have raised two daughters who have attended schools in Nevada. Each of my daughters are planning to have careers after graduate school where they can make a difference in other people's lives.

What are the major influences in your life? Why?

Having a father in the military, and parents who took me to church every week, I learned the blessings of being an American. They instilled in me the values of hard work and generosity. I learned that often times you would be judged by the company that you kept so I chose my friends wisely. As a teenager my father died of cancer, and I learned that life is precious. Not knowing how long we will be given this gift, I want my life to be one where I contributed more than I was given.

What is your general judicial philosophy?

I am activist in protecting the Bill of Rights, especially Property Rights.

Why should voters support you rather than your opponent?

I am the only candidate running for office who has presided over complicated criminal jury trials. I have presided over 25 murder cases, and have even had the sobering duty of voting for the death penalty. As a judge I was regularly called in the middle of the night to sign search warrants.

In the area of Property Rights no one can match my record. My landmark rulings have not gone unnoticed. In fact, in June of 1995, the Las Vegas Review-Journal hailed me as the "Hero" of private property rights.

What else would you like to say to voters about your qualifications and ideas?

My record as a District Court Judge shows that I stood up for people's rights, rather than cater to powerful special interest groups. To me the promises in the constitution are not worthless words in some old, dead document, but a contract that binds the hands of the government in its relationship with the people.