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July 25, 2013 01:38 PM UTC

Who Will Hick Pick? Colorado Supreme Court Vacancy Looms Large

  • 7 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

You might have missed the news last week that Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael L. Bender will retire from the bench, effective Jan. 7, 2014 (full press release after the jump). Bender's retirement, mandated by the Colorado Constitution because Jan. 7 is Bender's 72nd birthday, puts Gov. John Hickenlooper in an important position this fall.

Who will fill the robe of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Michael Bender?
Who will fill the robe of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Michael Bender?

The last time there was a vacancy on the Colorado Supreme Court, Hickenlooper selected Jefferson County Republican Brian Boatright from a list of three names provided by the Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Commission (the list included a Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated candidate). That decision rankled Democrats, who were upset that a Democratic Governor would replace an outgoing liberal judge with a solid conservative. Those concerns intensified after the Lobato school finance ruling in May; many observers believe that the decision might have gone the other way had Hickenlooper not appointed Boatright.Hickenlooper-Head

Assuming the Commission provides Hickenlooper with a Democrat as one of the three names (the Commission meets on Oct. 8 & 9), it's hard to see how Hick could really select anyone else. The "political" makeup of the court right now is 3 liberals (Bender, Nancy Rice, Gregory Hobbs), 3 conservatives (Allison Eid, Nathan Coates,and Boatright), and 1 "Unaffiliated" (Monica Marquez).

If Hickenlooper chooses another conservative candidate, the Colorado Supreme Court will make its rulings from the right for years to come. Both Rice and Hobbs are nearing retirement, while Eid, Coates and Boatright should be on the bench for several decades. As we've written before in this space, Hickenlooper can't afford to alienate Democratic voters any more than he already has if he hopes to avoid a nail-biter of a re-election campaign.

 

Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael L. Bender to retire

Commission sets date to select nominees

 

                DENVER – The Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Commission will meet Oct. 8 and 9, 2013, at the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center (2 E. 14th Ave., Denver, CO 80203) to interview candidates and select nominees for appointment by the governor to the Colorado Supreme Court.

                The vacancy will be created by the retirement of Chief Justice Michael L. Bender pursuant to the Colorado Constitution, Article VI, Section 23, which mandates that judicial officers retire at age 72. The vacancy will be effective Jan. 7, 2014, Chief Justice Bender’s 72nd birthday.

                To be eligible for appointment to fill the vacancy, the applicant must be a qualified elector of the State of Colorado and must have been admitted to the practice of law in Colorado for five years.  The current annual salary for this position is $144,688.  The initial term of office of a Supreme Court justice is a provisional term of two years; thereafter, the incumbent justice, if retained by the voters, has a term of 10 years.

                Application forms are available from the office of the ex officio chair of the nominating commission, Chief Justice Michael L. Bender, or from the Supreme Court Clerk, Christopher T. Ryan, 2 E. 14th Ave. Denver, CO 80203.  Applications also are available on the court’s home page at: http://www.courts.state.co.us/Careers/Judge.cfm.

                The original signed application and an identical copy of the application in electronic form as a single, text-searchable PDF file must be filed with the ex officio chair no later than 4 p.m. Sept. 3, 2013.  Late applications will not be considered.  Any person wishing to suggest a candidate to fill the vacancy may do so by letter to be submitted to any member of the nominating commission, with a copy to the ex officio chair, no later than 4 p.m. Aug. 19, 2013.

Applications will be kept confidential, except that the nominating commission shall disclose the names, work addresses, and work telephone numbers of those nominees submitted to the Governor. 

The members of the nominating commission for the Supreme Court Nominating Commission are:  Richard Holme and Sr. Alicia Cuarón, 1st Congressional District; Lamar Sims and Ann Hendrickson; 2nd Congressional District; Kim Childs and Mary Stengel, 3rd Congressional District; Scott Johnson and Ira Paulin, 4th Congressional District; Richard Celeste and Eric Hall, 5th Congressional District; April Jones and Bruce Alexander, 6th Congressional District; Charles Tingle and Olivia Mendoza, 7th Congressional District and Dorothy Decker, at large.

Editor’s Note:  Contact information for the nominating commission members

  • Richard “Dick” Holme, 1550 17th St., Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202
  • Sr. Alicia Cuarón, 2830 Lawrence St., Denver, CO 80212
  • Ann Hendrickson, P.O. Box 2025, Broomfield, CO 80038-2025
  • Lamar Sims, 201 W. Colfax Ave., Dept. 801, Denver, CO 80202
  • Kim Childs, 248 Cottonwood St., Delta, CO 81416
  • Mary Stengel, 16 Carol Drive, Durango, CO 81301
  • Scott Johnson, 420 Sixth Ave., Box O, Greeley, CO 80632
  • Ira Paulin, P.O. Box 524, Holly, CO 81047
  • Eric Hall, 90 South Cascade Ave., Suite 1100, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
  • Richard Celeste, 720 Crestfield Grove, Colorado Springs, CO 80906
  • Bruce Alexander, 2000 S. Colorado Blvd., Tower 2-12th Floor, Denver, CO 80222
  • April Jones, 5690 DTC Blvd., Suite 230E, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
  • Charles Tingle, 500 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80401
  • Olivia Mendoza, 309 W. 1st Ave., Denver, CO 80223
  • Dorothy Decker, 6748 Hwy 62, Ridgway, CO 81432

Comments

7 thoughts on “Who Will Hick Pick? Colorado Supreme Court Vacancy Looms Large

  1. Some time ago, I warned of what Hick had done in appointing Boatright (who is a great jurist, someone I respect greatly and who is very liked by at least the juvenile and family law sections of the bar).  I was furious that Hick would do something so stupid.

     

    However, having been a member of a nominating commission, I can tell you that right now because of the length of appointment that the state commissioners are almost an even number of Owens and Hickenlooper appointees with the possibility that Owens commissioners have a one vote advantrage.  That means that you are likely to see a similar group of nominees this time around.  While Boatright is a Republican, he is more of the old school of Republican, as opposed to Eid.  So, with that kind of slate, it is unlikely that he will have a nominee to satisfy the left.

     

    Marquez was supposed to be that appointment, but her recent ruling in the marijuana case (sitting as a member of the Court of Appeals??????) calls that into question since she went with the majority in that opinion which stated that Colorado's legal off duty activity didn't protect medical marijuana users because it is still illegal under Federal law.

     

    So bad news folks.  You're likely to have a 3 conservative, 2 moderate and 2 liberal judge court for the foreseeable future.

     

    And furthermore, Rice (who wrote the majority opinion in the Lobato case is one of the liberals).

     

    To put it plainly, the screwed up Supreme Court (at least from a left leaning position) is entirely Hick's fault.  Just another of hundreds of screw ups by a man who tries to please everyone, ends up pleasing no one and who can't make a controversial decision to save his life.  Why is it that Democrats continue to protect this guy.  He is not your friend.  He is an enemy.  In some ways even worse that Tancredo would be.  He's doing the same things Tancredo would do, but he's clothed in this mantle of moderateness.

     

    That's why he won't get this former Republican, now unaffiliate, voter's vote this year, under any circumstances, even if a close race.  I won't do it.  And frankly a lot of my friends who think like I do and our demographic, which is responsible for the turn-around of this state to at least purple, feel the same way about this guy.  Perhaps the worst Governor in our lifetimes.  As a matter of fact, I would say the worst Governor in my life time and that's saying something since I wasn't too keen on Bill Ritter either.

    1. To make matters even worse, The Frackenmeister, has been getting a whole lot of "nasty, Denver liberal" press of late ( . . . hat/tip to the usual suspects at the DP, et al . . . ).  

      Given the highly publicised ire of the gunnutters and the anti-taxers, it shouldn't surprise one little bit if Governor Profile-In-Courage purposely chooses further right in making this selection than is his normal wont, to ameliorate some of that recent criticism.

      Besides, it's not like the new Supreme Court justice is going to start making devastating rulings immediately,  . . . and anyway progressives, who you gonna' vote for as an alternative — Brophy, Tancredo, or Gessler???

      1. I don't think the Guv understands yet that politically he's in trouble.  There are many, many hugely dissatisfied Dems around the state.  If no primary, and if the Guv persists in running for re-election, there could be a large number of people who just don't cast a vote in that race in Nov 2014.  Yes, I know that's not a great idea but I believe it will happen.

  2. I don't regard Nancy Rice as either liberal or conservative.  She is outstanding for viewing the facts and the law on their merits and ruling without fear or favor.   God, how I wish I hate eight just like her on the U.S. Supreme Court! (If I had eight like Nancy, I'd keep Scalia, just for comic relief because of the fun of reading his furious dissents.)

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