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:
“The current of our thoughts made as sudden bends as the river, which was continually opening new prospects to the east or south, but we are aware that rivers flow most rapidly and shallowest at these points.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... no young colored person in the United States today can truthfully offer as an excuse for lack of ambition or aspiration that members of his race have accomplished so little, he is discouraged from attempting anything himself. For there is scarcely a field of human endeavor which colored people have been allowed to enter in which there is not at least one worthy representative.”
—Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954)
“Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“To exist as an advertisement of her husband’s income, or her father’s generosity, has become a second nature to many a woman who must have undergone, one would say, some long and subtle process of degradation before she sunk [sic] so low, or grovelled so serenely.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)