A replacement for Associate Justice Steven Levinson, who retires this week, likely will not be sworn in until February at the earliest, leaving the five-member Hawaii Supreme Court with four justices to handle cases.

But Chief Justice Ronald Moon is expected to name lower-court judges to act as a substitute fifth justice to decide cases until the replacement takes over the job.

Levinson, 62, will retire on Wednesday after 17 years on the high court, but three years before the end of his 10-year term.

Under the state Constitution, Gov. Linda Lingle must select a replacement from a list of four to six names compiled by the Judicial Selection Commission. The appointment is subject to state Senate approval.

The replacement is considered significant because the five justices sit on the highest state court, the final authority on state legal issues. Levinson is considered one of the court's most liberal jurists.

It will also be Lingle's second appointment to the high court. The Republican governor is expected to name a third when Moon retires in 2010, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Rosemary Fazio, chairwoman of the commission, said the nine-member panel is reviewing applications and expects to send to the list to the governor before the end of next month.

“;The process is rolling out as it should,”; Fazio said.

Under state law the governor has 30 days to make a selection, and the Senate has another 30 days to approve or reject the appointment.

The state Legislature convenes Jan. 21.

That timetable indicates the high court will be operating with four justices until at least February or even later.

Because of confidentiality provisions, Fazio said she could not disclose who was applying or the number of applicants.

Walter Ozawa, judiciary deputy administrator, said the chief justice normally fills the vacancy for cases by naming a substitute justice from the six judges on the Intermediate Court of Appeals or from more than 30 judges on the state circuit courts.

Moon has already appointed a circuit judge to sit in for Levinson on the pending case involving a constitutional challenge to the state law allowing the Superferry to sail even though a review of the environmental impact of its operations has not been completed.

Levinson stepped down from the case because of his imminent retirement. Circuit Judge Michael Town heard arguments in the case this month as a substitute associate justice.

Ozawa said he has been told that the chief justice more frequently names circuit judges as substitute associate justices because the appeals judges may have been involved in cases sent to the high court.