Region magistrate not selected as semifinalist for Indiana Supreme Court vacancy

INDIANAPOLIS | Lake County Magistrate Michael Pagano will not be the next justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.

On Thursday, the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission eliminated the Crown Point man and seven other applicants seeking to replace retiring Chief Justice Randall Shepard.

The seven remaining candidates, none of whom are current region residents, will return for a second round of interviews with the seven-member commission in two weeks.

By the end of the month, the commission will recommend three candidates to Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The governor will appoint one of the three to replace Shepard.

The commission did not explain why individual candidates were not selected as semifinalists.

At age 41, Pagano was the youngest applicant — and a man seeking a spot on one of three state supreme courts in the nation with no female justices.

Northwest Indiana is already represented on the state Supreme Court by Justice Brent Dickson, a Hobart native, and Justice Robert Rucker, a Gary native.

The seven remaining candidates include Jane Seigel, 57, executive director of the Indiana Judicial Center. Seigel lived in Hammond as a child for six years but now lives in Indianapolis.