Courts & rulings
New Mexico · highest court
New Mexico Supreme Court
Elected (partisan)
Chief: The Chief Justice is selected by a vote of the justices (peer selection) and serves a rotating term, customarily about two years..
Justices
All judges & justices →- Julie J. Vargas
- Michael E. Vigil
- C. Shannon Bacon
- David K. Thomson
- Briana H. Zamora
Roster as of 2026-06-13.
Constitution of the State of New Mexico
Adopted 1911. Its declaration of rights sits in Article II (Bill of Rights). This court has the final word on what the New Mexico constitution means.
Interstitial, departs when state-specific factors justify it
How a state reads its own rights provisions relative to the federal floor, lockstep vs departure.
State-court structure and selection methods are from official and reference sources; the justice roster is point-in-time. Civibrief carries each state's highest court (lower state courts are out of scope for now).