In 2025, Governor Kelly Ayotte’s administration withheld the names of Supreme Court applicants in response to a right-to-know request. Ayotte’s office cited her executive order and claimed a RSA 91-A exemption even as the secrecy raised conflict-of-interest concerns involving sitting judges.
2025: Kelly Ayotte’s Judicial Selection Commission Withheld Supreme Court Applicant Names And Raised Potential Conflict-Of-Interest Concerns. According to In Depth New Hampshire, “Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s new Judicial Selection Commission refused to release the names of applicants for the New Hampshire Supreme Court who at the time of application were also sitting justices in any of the state’s lower courts after InDepthNH.org filed a right-to-know request to publish the names.” [In Depth New Hampshire, 9/16/25]
Legal Expert Albert “Buzz” Scherr Said Kelly Ayotte’s Judicial Selection Executive Order Conflicted With RSA 91-A And Withheld Records The Statute Did Not Exempt. According to In Depth New Hampshire, “Legal expert Albert ‘Buzz’ Scherr, a professor at UNH Law and chair of the International Criminal Law and Justice Program, said the denial is wrong, and Kelly Ayotte’s executive order creating the Judicial Selection Commission violates RSA 91a. […] Scherr said the governor’s office response says the governor issued an executive order that said all records of deliberations with respect to persons who are examined as nominees and perspective nominees shall be held in confidence. ‘And then refer to what they thought was the relevant exemption in the 91a exemption list about the language records of deliberations with respect to persons who are examined as nominees. That’s not included in the exemption in RSA 91-A:5, IV. ‘So what this Executive Order does is make more confidential public records than the statute allows for. Their Executive Order is in violation of RSA 91a,’ Scherr said.” [In Depth New Hampshire, 9/16/25]