Colorado Supreme Court - Current Members and Appointment Process

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: