Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. An unusual story implicating freedom of the press unfolded in a high-profile Adams County case, and Colorado’s two senators sent three candidates to the White House to be considered for an upcoming federal court vacancy.

‘A bedrock of our democracy’

?  Last year, a grand jury indicted three Aurora police officers and two paramedics for the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, whose slaying helped galvanize the passage of a landmark policing reform law in 2020. Colorado Politics’ sibling publication, The Denver Gazette, has been following the criminal case and recently obtained records from Adams County court officials that, while intended to be suppressed, were not marked as such.

?  When reporter Julia Cardi contacted the Colorado Attorney General’s Office for comment about the records, the end result was far from routine: District Court Judge Priscilla Loew ordered the records destroyed and she blocked The Denver Gazette from publishing any material derived from them. Her two-page order, without reasoning, cited the need to protect grand jury secrecy and the defendants’ right to a fair trial.

?  After attorney Steve Zansberg filed a motion deeming Loew’s order unconstitutional and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called it unlawful prior restraint, the judge reversed course on Friday and determined The Denver Gazette’s interest in publishing materials it legally obtained outweighed any interests the prosecution claimed. Loew gave the attorney general’s office until Monday to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court, but it declined to do so.

?  As Cardi wrote: “At 9 a.m. Monday morning, I never would have predicted it would be the start of a week fighting to publish information we believe is in the public’s interest to know. But this grew into something bigger than the story or me: Protecting press freedom, a bedrock of our democracy.”

?  Over the weekend, The Gazette also published a story about Vi Murphy, a news reporter who was jailed for contempt in 1961 after she refused to disclose who gave her a sealed document that accused a former Supreme Court justice of taking a bribe.

Senators forward names for judicial vacancy

?  On Friday, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper informed the White House who they would like to succeed U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martínez, who will be stepping down from active service and creating a vacancy on Colorado’s federal trial court – albeit over nine months from now. The senators forwarded the names of U.S. Magistrate Judges S. Kato Crews and Gordon P. Gallagher, as well as Sundeep K. “Rob” Addy, an attorney in private practice.

?  Of note, this is Gallagher’s second appearance on the shortlist. Also, the senators did not include Kenzo Kawanabe, a private practice lawyer who landed on the two previous lists of top-three candidates.

?  While Bennet and Hickenlooper have been very timely in making recommendations to the Biden administration as judicial vacancies arise, confirmations have hit a snag. Charlotte N. Sweeney, who was nominated in August for a trial court vacancy, still has not had a full Senate vote, despite being the person who has waited the longest of all the president’s nominees. Nina Y. Wang, whom the White House announced in January for another vacancy, has not had a hearing before the Senate’s judiciary committee. 

?  What gives? Spokespersons for both Senate offices wouldn’t give an answer on the record, but it’s obvious that the Senate is divided 50-50 between the two political parties, and COVID-19 is still affecting senators’ ability to be present and vote.

Elections in the courts

?  A Denver judge agreed that Colorado’s secretary of state could bar a Republican candidate in the 5th Congressional District from using the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” as a nickname on the primary ballot. The phrase is shorthand for “F— Joe Biden.”

?  The Colorado Supreme Court subsequently declined to review that ruling.

?  A judge in Denver also refused to remove a Republican primary candidate from the ballot in the 3rd Congressional District, which largely consists of the Western Slope.

Appellate news

?  Even though an El Paso County judge waited until the trial was in progress to suddenly remember that she had been the victim of a crime similar to the one the defendant was accused of, she did not need to recuse herself, the state’s Court of Appeals decided.

?  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit agreed to dismiss a lawsuit by a Colorado Springs real estate agent against his ex-husband, but raised a question the Colorado Supreme Court might want to consider in the future about invasions of privacy.

?  Although a man who is serving 20 years for the attempted bombing of a Pueblo synagogue claimed that it violated his First Amendment rights for the trial judge to prohibit him from possessing certain white supremacist materials, the 10th Circuit rejected his arguments on procedural grounds.

?  The Colorado Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s decision to suppress evidence, saying officers had reasonable suspicion after all in detaining the defendant.

Vacancies and appointments

?  There are three upcoming vacancies on Denver’s District Court, prompted by the retirements of Chief Judge Michael A. Martinez and Judges Michael J. Vallejos and Edward D. Bronfin. Applications are due by May 20.

?  The governor has appointed juvenile and criminal law practitioner Graham B. Peper to the Jefferson County Court. He will succeed retiring Judge Harold Sargent.

Miscellaneous decisions

?  The top federal prosecutor and federal public defender for Colorado appeared together in downtown Denver last week to talk about priorities, diversity and the Biden administration’s nomination of public defenders to judgeships.

?  A man was wrongfully arrested for theft because of a clerical mistake and an Aurora police officer’s inadequate investigation. A federal judge is now weighing whether the officer’s actions were so unreasonable that they violate the U.S. Constitution.

?  It did not violate a woman’s constitutional rights for security guards at the federal courthouse in Denver to ask where she was going as a condition of admitting her to the building.

?  A judge has declined to dismiss an age and disability discrimination lawsuit against the City of Arvada.