Current Members and Appointment Process
The Justices are appointed by the Governor of Colorado to serve a term of ten years after an initial two year term from a list of three finalist candidates nominated by a Blue Ribbon Commission established by the state constitution. At the end of each term, Justices face a retention election at which voters can choose to retain or not retain a Justice. If a Justice were not retained, the vacancy would be filled by the Governor at the expiration of their current term. No appellate judge has ever lost a retention election since the system was put in place in 1966. The Justices are not elected as partisan officials, although they are initially appointed by a partisan elected official.
An effort to change this system of retaining judges by initiative was rejected by voters in 2006, in part due to a campaign against the initiative which had strong support from both Democratic and Republican members of the Colorado Bar Association.
The Chief Justice is selected by the Justices from amongst themselves. As of July 1, 2006, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is paid $125,656 per year, and Associate Supreme Court Justices are paid $122,972 per year.
The current Colorado Supreme Court's membership, and the date each Justice was appointed, is as follows:
Title | Name | Took office | Appointed by |
---|---|---|---|
Chief Justice | Bender, Michael L.Michael L. Bender | 01997-01-02January 2, 1997 | Roy Romer (D) |
Associate Justice | Hobbs, Jr., Gregory J.Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr. | 01996-04-18April 18, 1996 | Roy Romer (D) |
Associate Justice | Rice, Nancy E.Nancy E. Rice | 01998-08-05August 5, 1998 | Roy Romer (D) |
Associate Justice | Coats, Nathan B.Nathan B. Coats | 02000-04-24April 24, 2000 | Bill Owens (R) |
Associate Justice | Eid, Allison H.Allison H. Eid | 02006-02-15February 15, 2006 | Bill Owens (R) |
Associate Justice | Márquez, MonicaMonica Márquez | 02010-12-10December 10, 2010 | Bill Ritter (D) |
Associate Justice | Boatright, BrianBrian Boatright | 02011-11-21November 21, 2011 | John Hickenlooper (D) |
Read more about this topic: Colorado Supreme Court
Famous quotes containing the words current, members, appointment and/or process:
“You are the current of the frozen stream,
Shadow invisible, ambushed and vigilant flame.”
—Allen Tate (18991979)
“I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men themselves have some wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members of society. Undoubtedly, all men are not equally fit subjects for civilization; and because the majority, like dogs and sheep, are tame by inherited disposition, this is no reason why the others should have their natures broken that they may be reduced to the same level.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.”
—George Bernard Shaw (18561950)
“Science is a dynamic undertaking directed to lowering the degree of the empiricism involved in solving problems; or, if you prefer, science is a process of fabricating a web of interconnected concepts and conceptual schemes arising from experiments and observations and fruitful of further experiments and observations.”
—James Conant (18931978)