Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. One of the president’s judicial nominees for Colorado advanced out of committee, while another recently confirmed judge has been randomly assigned hundreds of cases. Also, the U.S. Supreme Court has received appeals from Colorado that are seeking to get the justices’ attention in their next term.

Close vote for a Biden nominee

?  Given that the U.S. Senate is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, it wasn’t shocking to see President Joe Biden’s judicial pick for the Colorado-based federal appeals court receive a narrow 12-10 vote from the Judiciary Committee in favor of her nomination. Veronica S. Rossman, a public defender for Colorado and Wyoming, received many questions from GOP senators about her judicial philosophy, but she insisted she did not follow any particular school of thought.

?  “While I do not ascribe to a specific judicial philosophy or approach to constitutional interpretation, I have carefully considered the judicial process I will bring with me to the appellate bench, if confirmed. In every case, I will treat all litigants respectfully and impartially; I will carefully consider the issue(s) presented and give due regard to the parties’ legal arguments.” – Rossman, in her responses to senators’ written questions

?  Her nomination now goes to the full Senate. The influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is now split evenly between Democratic and Republican nominees. If Rossman is confirmed and Biden nominates someone for a second vacancy based in Kansas, the margin will be seven Democratic and five Republican nominees among active judges.

Speaking of Biden nominees …

?  The Court Crawl noticed that one week after her swearing in, U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez started to handle cases. Rodriguez was one of Biden’s first picks for the federal bench, and was the sole recommendation of Colorado’s two senators for the vacancy left open since 2019.

?  The clerk of the district court, Jeffrey P. Colwell, explained that Rodriguez now has close to 300 cases assigned to her from the other members of the court: “Those cases were randomly selected proportionally from each of the other six district judges; in other words, they each relinquished the same number of cases to her. The assignments are completely random, so they do not take into account any particular experience.”

?  So what are some of the disputes Colorado’s newest judge will oversee? There are the standard breach of contract, securities and patent infringement cases that normally surface. But there are some more intriguing lawsuits, including:

Acker v. Denver: A lawsuit stemming from the 2020 racial justice protests alleging excessive force and First Amendment violations by Denver police.

Hein v. Hersberger: A 71-year-old (at the time) Gunnison woman alleges a sheriff’s deputy used excessive force and initiated an unlawful seizure when he arrested her after she complained about the volume of music at a soccer game.

Weixel v. Rivard et al.: The chief operating officer of a company sued the chief executive officer for discrimination and breach of contract, amid allegations the CEO fired her when she ended their sexual relationship.

Brandt v. Chavez et al.: A notorious agitator is suing Denver police for arresting and searching him after he yelled obscenities at officers.

Let’s talk politics

?  In one of many, many dismissed lawsuits claiming fraud in the 2020 election, a federal magistrate judge last week held a hearing to determine whether attorneys should face sanctions in bringing a lawsuit against Dominion Voting Systems based on flimsy information.

?  The citizen-led commission that is drawing lines for new congressional districts plans to ask the Colorado Supreme Court whether it can blow past its September deadline enshrined in the state constitution, owing to delays in census data.

?  A homebuilder in Grand Junction is suing to overturn the paid family and medical leave ballot initiative that Colorado voters approved in 2020.

Paging SCOTUS

?  The U.S. Supreme Court receives about 10,000 appeals each year, and ends up hearing around 75-85 cases. Two cases from Colorado are now vying to make the cut: Levi Frasier has asked the Supreme Court to consider whether the 10th Circuit was wrong to dismiss his First Amendment claim against Denver police officers. Frasier alleged officers retaliated against him for recording an act of police brutality on his tablet, and pointed to the fact that the police received training about bystanders’ First Amendment rights. However, in March, the 10th Circuit gave the officers immunity, saying their training was irrelevant.

?  “The Court does care about spending its limited resources to take cases that have broad importance to society, and this is clearly one of them.” – Ashley I. Kissinger, a First Amendment attorney with Ballard Spahr.

?  In the second case, a man who committed sexual assault on the Ute Mountain Reservation and was convicted in both the tribal justice system and federal district court is asking the Supreme Court to determine whether double jeopardy should have barred his second prosecution.

What ever happened to…

?  In May, Colorado Politics wrote about the transparency measures courts enacted to provide remote access to proceedings during the pandemic. At the time, we noted that judges for U.S. District Court for Colorado were using a call-in line for the public to listen, but that it would likely be up to each judge to decide whether and when to discontinue that feature.

?  Well, it looks like we have an answer: a look at the judges’ calendars for this week shows that only Judge R. Brooke Jackson and Judge Daniel D. Domenico still list a public access number for their courtrooms, along with some of the magistrate judges. The Court Crawl is saddened but not surprised about this development.

Miscellaneous decisions

?  The 10th Circuit upheld the murder-for-hire conviction of the “Tiger King,” the owner of a shuttered big-cat zoo and the subject of a popular Netflix documentary series.

?  The federal government did not violate any laws in modifying trails intended for Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, the site of a former nuclear production facility.

?  A judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against Walgreens from a pharmacist who alleges she endured sexual harassment at the Western Slope store where she worked.

?  A COVID-19 denier who was fired from FedEx after refusing to wear a mask had a meritless claim against the company, a court decided.