Oct. 23, 2020 Press Conference: Announcement of Governor Ige’s Appointment of Hawai’i Supreme Court Associate Justice

Aloha and thanks for joining us for today's news conference for Friday, October 23rd Today's topic is not covid-nineteen. It is Governor E's appointment of the Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice Governor Ye. Aloha Thank you for joining me this afternoon II know that there there are some Court nominations that have been controversial uh but I am confident this one won't be uh today. I'm announcing the appointment of first circuit judge uh Todd Evans to be an associate justice on the Hawaii Supreme Court. You know five people sit on the Supreme Court uh the chief justice. And for associate justices together, they make decisions that shape our state and their decisions have a significant impact on our community. the appointment of a Supreme Court justice influences the direction of our state long after a a governor's term of in recognizing the significance. uh I do uh uh my due diligence in reviewing the nominations when I uh. Received the list from the judicial selection committee. uh I read their applications and their statements uh very carefully uh consulted uh other attorneys and stakeholders uh in the judicial process uh considered public comments uh that I received for all of the nominees and personally interviewed each person on the list Uh during this process, I did learn that. Uh since uh Todd was appointed uh to be a judge at the first Circuit court um he has presided over Eighty-five jury trials um many uh jury trials resolved um hundreds of cases and resolve thousands of legal motions. Judge Evans has also sat as a substitute justice on the Hawaii Supreme Court uh for numerous. Says he has served on judicial committees involving judicial performance jury instructions and court rules uh during these years, Todd has demonstrated that he understands the law and the role of a judge in ensuring fear and and impartial in our judicial system. I also learned that he worked as a trial attorney at the Office of the public defender before entering. Private practice where he concentrated on um complex criminal civil and litigation I was able to confirm that these positions gave him a breath of experience within our diverse community that will serve him well on the state's highest court uh and just to introduce Todd to those of you who may not know him uh he went to Enchanted Lakes Elementary school uh and graduated. From the Hawaii Baptist Academy, uh he graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. uh he was executive editor of the University of Hawaii Law review at the William S Richardson School of Law and obviously a graduate of the William Richardson School of Law. uh and he's a former law clerk to the retired Hawaii Supreme Court Justice The late Yoshi, in addition to. These professional qualifications, it's important to me that a Supreme Court justice is someone that others in our community can relate to in fact uh during my interview, Todd told me that he believes much of his legal success is because he's just a regular guy Judge Evans is a former member of the neighborhood board. He has coached youth athletics and the Hawaii Youth correct. Facility High School mock trial team uh and his wife uh from originally from and they have a four children Judge Adams has the respect of his peers and I know that he will be a welcome addition to the state's highest court uh and with that I'd like to uh introduce um justice Evans uh for a few comments. Thank you governor for your kind words and your confidence in my legal skill set experience and values to server state thank you thank you to my family my wife my children noa Moranda Rosco Ruby my parents my loss thank you for your love thank you to my friends and colleagues who All my life's walks have been there have helped me have supported me have encouraged me. This is is an humbling. Incredibly humbling capstone to legal career as a trial lawyer in Circuit Court Judge I'm so thrilled to be able to serve our state in this capacity. I'm so honored to have the opportunity to serve on our Hawaii Supreme Court. And I really look forward to the Senate confirmation process. Thank you very much for your confidence. Governor Thank you very much, Judge Evans and reporters if you have any question for the judge or for governor E on uh the appointment today um please raise your hand on zoom and I'll call on you if you have questions outside of today's subject matter, we will take those questions a little later. we'll go to blaze level civil beat Blaze. Hi Jody. Hydrogens and high governor this question is for um you judge um you know recently the Supreme Court has ruled on a number of cases involving criminal defendants and um you have a similar background to associate justice Pollock uh from public defender former defense attorney. Do you see yourself ruling in um the that majority with Justice's McKenna and Wilson in certain criminal matters. I have an allegiance to the rule of law and wherever the facts and the law will lead me. That's where I'll go. Please did you have a follow up to that. Oh, that is all thank you okay any other questions for Judge Evans or governor on the appointment. Okay, seeing no hands judge evidence if you would take a seat, please if you have questions on topics outside of today's appointment. Go ahead and raise your hands on zoom. Down the castle Did you have any questions? Dan Can you hear me? And I think you need to unmute there you go. Reporters any other questions outside of the uh today's appointment of judges. Mala Richardson from Hawaii News now, ma Lou hi, um just wondering from the governor with the latest on the possible lockdown of Lynette is and if there's no decision what would be the factors that you and other officials are waiting. Um uh thank you for that question um uh as you know, District Health officer Lauren Payne uh is really leading uh the investigation of to the cases on uh we uh anticipate that there will be additional positives uh on the island uh as you are aware we have um sent over uh swabbing teams so that we can uh provide testing to uh as many of those who are close contacts or. Who want to be tested Uh in addition, I know that uh I did discuss um the situation with Mayor Victor Reno this morning um he is uh sending over uh personnel to help with uh cleaning and sanitizing uh just as they had done with the cases on molokai. so uh we um have scheduled uh drive by testing uh uh and there will be um the opportunity made available to. Uh who believes that they might have been exposed or believe they would be close contacts so that they can get tested. You know we're working to um identify anyone who maybe carrying the virus uh and working to ensure that we can have access to quality health care for all of those who may become ill. Thank you very much Governor uh next reporter is Nikki She KHON two Nikki, Are you there? Yes? Go ahead, Nikki Pray the governor um well, there's been many people who have opted out of the pretest this first week of course, hotels can help monitor some of the visitors who are in quarantine, but how is the state keeping track of the returning residents who opt out of the pretest and is that a concern with the huge spike in cases that are occurring right now in the mainland? Um you know we are definitely aware as you uh maybe aware. Uh incoming residents and travelers alike are required to complete the Hawaii health uh and on that farm we do ask uh where there'll be a quarantine um and we do ask for contact information phones and uh email addresses. Uh we uh do follow up with them to make sure that um that they they are in quarantine and isolating uh we do have a comprehensive picture of those uh who are in the state. Um both residents and visitors who are uh subject to quarantine uh and those that are exempt uh because of the pre travel testing program or because they are a an exempt category. Uh so we continue to work with the counties the county police Department um and state law enforcement uh to identify those who may be in violation of quarantine orders or other uh requirements uh and we do take action uh as appropriate. Thank you very much Governor Ashley Missoula, Hawaii Public Radio Ash. Thanks so much um Governor E is there any agency collecting information on you know where people are flying in from originally I think as of right now, I've heard that they are only collecting um the last airport destination, so obviously looks like a lot of people are coming in from LA and San Francisco, but that might not be the cases um you know they could be transferring um from that point to Hawaii um is do you know if there is anyone keeping track of that to track, you know the higher positivity rates of um they're coming from state to ahead. Higher rates of infection uh no, we don't capture um the prior uh travel information from the visitors. uh we do uh get the last leg uh into the state of Hawaii. um you know should someone become positive, then um part of the contact tracing uh wood work to identify uh that information uh and as you are are where we are a surveillance program um and we are working to see if we can capture uh that information about where people traveled from. And what their role was to get to the islands uh so that would give us a better picture of um the the virus prevalence um coming from those areas. Governor I believe Ashley has a follow-up ash now I'm speaking of the surveillance program. Can you give any updates on um where we are with that? how many people have been tested on what we're seeing so far with um the results from that So II don't have that information. I will contact the lieutenant governor and see if he can uh provide and publish uh any. Data that he's um uh received at this point in time, actually I'll get back to you as well. uh any other questions reporters. Okay, seeing no hams and we'll certainly I'm uh excited about the opportunity to appoint uh judge Todd Evans to the Hawaii State Supreme Court. Uh I do know that the um Hawaii Senate will um exercise their authority and responsibility uh for advice and consent of this nomination uh in my conversations and my learning about Todd, I'm certain that uh he will be. Um confirmed as the Senate runs to their process uh certainly I've um personally received uh lots of um compliments uh on the nomination uh and certainly look forward to the public having the opportunity to learn much more about Judge Evans uh and uh certainly look forward to the confirmation process with the Senate um once again I wanna thank the people of Hawaii for making the sacrifices necessary we continue to. The downward trends in the number of cases here uh and even in spite of this um the cluster of cases that we are seeing on lanai uh we uh continue to see uh that people are wearing their mask watching their distance and washing their hands, which is really uh reduce spread of covid-nineteen here in our community. Uh so thank you uh to everyone for doing their part. Uh we can only be successful. As a community and I look forward to working with all of of you uh defeating covid-nineteen. Thank you.