Hood is next Colorado supreme court justice

William Hood III, a Denver district court judge, has been chosen to succeed chief justice Michael Bender as a member of the state's highest court.

Gov. John Hickenlooper made the announcement Friday.

Hood, 50, has been a judge for about six years. Before assuming the bench he was in private practice and worked as a prosecutor in the 18th judicial district.

The new justice will have to stand for retention in the 2014 election. If retained, he'll serve a ten year term commencing in January 2015.


Hickenlooper's decision means that district judge David Prince of El Paso county and Colorado court of appeals judge John Dailey will have to await another vacancy on the state's highest court before trying again for promotion.

Justice Nancy E. Rice will take over as chief justice when Bender retires on Jan. 7, 2014.

Chief justice Bender to retire Jan. 7

Colorado will need a new supreme court chief justice early in 2014, and the state's Supreme Court Nominating Commission is to meet Oct. 8 and 9 to begin the process of choosing his replacement as a member of the high bench.

The incumbent, Michael Bender, will reach the age of 72 on Jan. 7. That is the state's mandatory retirement age for judges.

The Supreme Court Nominating Commission will provide Gov. John Hickenlooper with three candidates to take his seat.

Bender was appointed to the supreme court by former Gov. Roy Romer in 1997. He was selected to replace Mary Mullarkey as chief justice in 2010.

During his career as a practicing lawyer Bender worked as a public defender, for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and in private practice. He has also taught law at the University of Denver.

The chief justice of the state supreme court is the administrator of a justice system that has a budget in excess of $400 million and more than 3,600 employees.

Colorado's state courts are staffed by 332 judges.

Hickenlooper has appointed one justice to the court since assuming office in Jan. 2011. Brian Boatwright, a former Jefferson County district court judge, was selected to replace justice Alex Martinez in Nov. 2011.

The members of the nominating commission for the Supreme Court are Richard Holme and Sr. Alicia Cuarón of the First Congressional District, Lamar Sims and Ann Hendrickson of the Second Congressional District, Kim Childs and Mary Stengel of the Third Congressional District, Scott Johnson and Ira Paulin of the Fourth Congressional District, Richard Celeste and Eric Hall of the Fifth Congressional District, April Jones and Bruce Alexander of the Sixth Congressional District, Charles Tingle and Olivia Mendoza of the Seventh Congressional District, and at-large member Dorothy Decker.

Applicants for the appointment were required to submit the necessary documentation to the commission by Sept. 3.

Photo courtesy Colorado Judicial Branch.

Supreme Court rejects attack on state school finance system

The state supreme court has turned aside a constitutional attack on Colorado's public school financing system.

In a 4-2 decision announced Tuesday, the court held that the method established by the School Finance Act is "thorough and uniform," as required by article IX of the state constitution, and that appropriate local control is guaranteed.

Justice Nancy Rice wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by justices Brian Boatwright, Nathan Coats, and Allison Eid.

Chief Justice Michael Bender and Justice Gregory Hobbs dissented.

Education News Colorado has a thorough report on the decision in State v. Lobato.

Colorado Supreme Court to provide video feed of Lobato arguments

The state supreme court will make available a live video feed of the oral arguments in a case that challenges the constitutionality of Colorado's school finance system.

Arguments in Lobato v. State are scheduled for Thursday, March 7 at 9:30 am.

A video feed can be accessed here: http://www.courts.state.co.us/lobatovstate.

State's appeals courts to move to new Judicial Center this month

Colorado's appellate judges will move to the new Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center this month.

The new state courts complex, which is located across Lincoln Avenue from the state capitol, is a quarter-billion dollar undertaking that will have been more than half of a decade in the making when the shift happens.

No days of business will be lost in the move. Both courts will close for business at their current locations on West Colfax Avenue in Denver on Friday, Dec. 14 and re-open at the new facility at 2 East 14th Avenue in Denver on Monday morning, Dec. 17.

State court administrators and the state law library are also moving to the new building.

Marquez takes supreme court seat

Colorado's 96th supreme court justice took her seat Friday after being sworn in by her father, a retired court of appeals judge.

Monica Marquez replaced Mary Mullarkey on the bench. Mullarkey retired on Nov. 30.

The new justice, 41, is a former deputy attorney general.

She becomes the second Latino justice on the current supreme court, the first Latina ever to sit on the court, Colorado's first openly gay justice, and the third openly gay state supreme court justice in the country.

Marquez's father, Jose D.L. Marquez, administered her oath of office. The elder Marquez also made history as Colorado's first Latino court of appeals judge.

He retired from the state bench in 2008 after 20 years of service.

Mullarkey leaves state supreme court

Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey's long tenure on the state supreme court ended Tuesday.

Mullarkey, who announced her retirement in June, had been a justice since 1987 and chief justice since 1998.

The 66-year old veteran jurist did not offer any public statements about her departure on Tuesday.

Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Monica Marquez, a deputy attorney general, to replace Mullarkey.

Marquez will be sworn in Dec. 10.

Justice Michael Bender has been selected by his colleagues on the high court to be the next chief justice.

Marquez appointed to supreme court

A state deputy attorney general will become the next state supreme court justice.

Monica Marquez, 41, has been chosen by Gov. Bill Ritter to replace retiring chief justice Mary Mullarkey.

“Monica is an analytical and independent thinker," Ritter said. "She has a wealth of personal and professional experiences, and a deep reverence for the role our legal system plays in the everyday lives of Coloradans, and in the inter-relationship between our courts and public policy. She respects the rule of law, is conscientious and will bring an unbiased and just perspective to the court and all the cases that it hears."

The appointment also drew praise from Republican attorney general John Suthers, Marquez' boss.

"In selecting Deputy Attorney General Marquez, the governor has made an excellent appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court,” Suthers said. “Monica is one of the brightest attorneys I have worked with in my long career in public service. Her clear, concise writing and sharp legal mind will make her an outstanding addition to the Colorado Supreme Court.”

Suthers also wrote a letter of recommendation supporting Marquez' candidacy for the high court.

Marquez is the chief of the state services section in the attorney general's office. She oversees the team of lawyers who represent nine executive branch agencies, including the governor's office.

Marquez has worked for the Department of Law since 2002. Before entering public service she was an associate at the law firm Holme, Roberts, and Owen and a law clerk for two federal judges.

She earned her law degree at Yale Law School and her undergraduate degree at Stanford University. Marquez is a graduate of Grand Junction High School.

Marquez will have to seek retention after a two-year provisional term. Her name will appear on the 2012 ballot.

“Naming a new Supreme Court justice is a tremendous responsibility and privilege,” the Governor said. “I had three exemplary choices and a difficult decision to make. While Chief Justice Mullarkey leaves behind an irreplaceable legacy, I am confident Monica Marquez will serve the people of Colorado with distinction, honor and integrity.”

Supreme Court Upholds Mill Levy Freeze

A controversial law that froze mill levies in almost all of the state's 178 public school districts, which allowed the districts to retain about $117 million in property tax revenues that would otherwise have been refunded to taxpayers, was upheld Monday by the state supreme court.

In a 6-1 decision the justices ruled that the 2007 statute, which froze mill levies only in those school districts in which residents had already voted to exempt the district from the revenue limits imposed by the 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights, did not contradict TABOR.

The court said that school districts are the government bodies that are assessing the property tax levies at issue, that no second election allowing use of the revenue gained as a result of the first public decision to exempt the districts from TABOR's revenue limits was necessary, and that in any case the mill levy freeze did not amount to a tax increase.

Gov. Bill Ritter welcomed the decision as an affirmation of the Democratic General Assembly's determination to reverse the impacts of a 1994 change to the state's School Finance Act, which limited the amount of money school districts could spend on local schools and raised the percentage of public school budgets paid for by the state.

“The real winners today are Colorado’s children, families and schools," Ritter said. "We took up this fight two years ago because it was the right thing to do for the right reasons: We were leading Colorado forward by removing an obstacle that hurt students, families and this state’s future."

The 1994 change to the School Finance Act forced mill levies downward in school districts with rising property values. As a result, and in order to maintain funding stability, the state's contribution to many school districts' budgets rose.

HB 07-1099 did not have the effect of raising any school district mill levies. The law simply told the districts that, if the voters within their boundaries had agreed to "de-BRUCE," or exempt the district from TABOR revenue limits, that existing mill levies could remain in place even if the revenue they produced rose. The 2007 statute also did not change the statewide maximum mill levy of 27 mills.

The amount of revenue a property tax assessed on a particular parcel of real estate generates for a taxing authority such as a school district is determined by multiplying three factors: the property value, the assessment rate and the mill levy.

House speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, said the legislature's majority considered constitutional objections to the law when it was considered in 2007 and had been confident that TABOR posed no obstacles to it.

"We knew this would pass constitutional muster or we wouldn’t have done it," Carroll said. "The legislation simply stabilizes funding for our kids’ schools so they can get the quality of education they deserve."

Republican critics of the decision, and of the 2007 law, said the supreme court's action was driven by partisan sympathy for the Democratic party.

“It’s fitting that the most partisan court in the land rubber stamped the governor’s property tax increase on exactly the same day Senate Democrats are poised to repeal Colorado’s landmark spending limits, and exactly two weeks after the Governor signed the largest increase in car taxes in a generation," Senate minority leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita, said. "With loyalist Democrats in charge of the Governor’s mansion, the state House, the state Senate, and the Supreme Court, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights is on life support and the principle of fiscal restraint is in full retreat."

Judicial Branch Imposes Hiring Freeze, Too

The Colorado Judicial Branch today announced that it, too, will reduce spending this fiscal year by imposing a statewide hiring freeze.

Judicial Branch managers will be permitted to finalize the hiring process only if a candidate has been offered and accepted a position by Oct. 3. Positions determined to have a direct and immediate effect on public safety, or the effective operation of the courts, may be approved for hire on an individual basis.

“As one of the three co-equal branches of government, we are always mindful of the need to ensure taxpayers’ funds are used in the most effective and efficient manner possible,” Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey said. “Careful stewardship of those funds, particularly with thought to the future, becomes even more important in these difficult economic times."

The freeze takes effect Oct. 3.

Amendment 41 Back in Effect

The Colorado Supreme Court dissolved an injunction blocking enforcement of Amendment 41's ban on gifts to legislators and government employees today, holding that a lower court did not have jurisdiction to enter it.

According to a report in the Denver Post, the justices ruled that a challenge to the law, which was enacted via referendum in 2006, is not ripe.

The basis of that ruling, according to the Post article, is that the ethics commission created by the law has not yet been fully staffed and has not yet begun to implement the far-reaching ethics measure.

Amendment 41 prohibits all gifts to elected officials from lobbyists, prohibits any other gift to an elected official worth $50 or more, and forbids elected officials from becoming a lobbyist for two years after their public service ends.

The opinion of the Court, which was unanimous, is here.