BOISE -- The last Democrat appointee on the state's Supreme Court apparently prefers that a Republican governor choose her sucessor rather than the voters of Idaho.

Justice Linda Copple Trout announced last week that she would depart the bench this summer rather than serve out her term to 2008, when her successor would be decided by popular vote.

By leaving in late July this year, Trout instead gives GOP Governor 'Butch' Otter an opportunity to become the third GOP Governor in succession to appoint an Idaho Supreme Court Justice. Four of the court's five members have joined it in the past 12 years.

Gov. Dick Kempthorne elevated Justice Roger S. Burdick in 2003 while Gov. Phil Batt named outgoing Chief Justice Gerald F. Schoroeder in 1995. Only Justices Daniel T. Eismann in 2000 and Justice Jim Jones in 2004 ascended to the bench by popular vote.

Trout, who served two terms as Chief Justice, was first appointed in 1992 by Idaho's last Democratic Governor, Cecil Andrus. She said she could not face another election and did not want her sucesssor to face the voters untested.

"There are a lot of problems with the [electoral] system, but the biggest problem is people don't know how to make a choice on who would make a good judge," Trout told the AP after her announcement.

She would rather a committee of the Idaho Judicial Council screen nominees for a short-list to Gov. Otter. That's so a new justice can "get some experience and let people see them and their work product before they run for the seat," Trout added.

Otter can soon create a majority of GOP appointments by picking two replacements for departing Supreme Court Justices.

GOP-appointed Chief Justice Gerald F. Schroeder has already announced his departure and Gov. Otter will choose his successor in the next few months. Schroeder cited similar replacement concerns to Trout as the reasons for his mid-term departure.

Trout's decision has angered conservative Idaho commentators like Bryan Fischer, who portray it as an insult to the same voters who returned her to the Supreme Court four times.

"In essence, Justice Trout is saying that citizens are too stupid to pick their own judges, wrote Bryan Fischer on the blogsite RenewAmerica.com.

Fischer also cited research in his posting showing that since 1950, more than two thirds of Idaho's Supreme Court Justices first ascended to the bench by appointment rather than being voted in.

The Idaho Judicial Council will meet to interview Schroeder's potential replacements on June 7 and 8 and is expected to do so for Trout's sometime in August.