Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs is retiring from the bench on Aug. 31, after 19 years of service, and the Supreme Court Nominating Commission is taking nominations to fill his seat. The commission plans to meet on June 8 and 9 to interview candidates and forward nominees to Gov. John Hickenlooper, who will make the appointment.

Hobbs, considered an expert in water law, was appointed by Gov. Roy Romer in 1996 and has been retained by voters twice. His current term expires in 2019.

Applicants for the position, which pays $157,710, must be qualified electors in Colorado and have been admitted to practice law in the state for at least five years. Supreme Court justices in Colorado are initially appointed for a provisional, two-year term and then, if retained by voters, serve 10-year terms between retention votes. Application forms are available from Chief Justice Nancy Rice or the Supreme Court’s clerk and are also available online. Applications are due by 4 p.m. May 6, but anyone may nominate someone else by submitting a letter to the nominating commission by 4 p.m., April 29.

Hobbs was in the news four years ago when gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, a former Republican congressman, was accused of cribbing a project about water policy from work written by Hobbs. McInnis blamed a research assistant he had hired for failing to adequately footnote the material, and McInnis was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. That, however, came too late as primary voters had already turned on him, instead handing the GOP nomination to political neophyte Dan Maes, who went on to win barely 10 percent of the vote against John Hickenlooper.

– Ernest@coloradostatesman.com