Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. The state Supreme Court held its monthly oral arguments last week despite an illness on the bench, and a new coaching program for judicial aspirants in Colorado has recently concluded its pilot phase.

Back together, but not in person

?  Colorado’s Supreme Court justices held oral arguments last week and a couple of things were noteworthy. First, in contrast with previous months where two or – at most – three cases were ready to go, May’s calendar featured five arguments, a number more in line with the high court’s historical workload. Second, the justices were scheduled to travel to Grand Junction for the semi-annual Courts in the Community program, but at the last minute the trip was canceled and the arguments moved online.

?  A spokesperson for the Judicial Department said a “COVID exposure” was the reason for the change. It appears that Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright was the stricken party. The Court Crawl sends its condolences.

?  As for the cases themselves, the topics were fairly diverse: whether to strike down part of the voter-approved paid leave program because it violates the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, what it means to have an intent to “harm” a police officer by spitting on him, how parole eligibility should be calculated, and whether tail lights on vehicles must be exclusively red.

?  On that last question, Colorado law only says drivers must have a “red lightly plainly visible” from 500 feet to the rear. What’s disputed is whether that means a tail lamp must only be red with no other colors, or whether there can be other colors as long as the red is plainly visible. Although really the only scenario in play is whether a person can use red tape as a temporary fix for their busted tail light, the justices were somewhat concerned with the implications of an overly broad or narrow ruling. 

?  John T. Lee of the attorney general’s office, in arguing for red and only red, used the following example: “Say I pay someone $25,000 to paint my house gray. I leave. I come back expecting my house to be gray. I drive by – the front is white. The side is white. I get to my front door and there’s one strip painted bright gray with the note: ‘You didn’t say all gray.'”

The dream job

?  The judicial branch in Colorado has made diversifying the bench a priority, and last winter it tried something new: a six-month coaching program pairing current judges with diverse lawyers who are committed to applying for and getting appointed to judgeships. Colorado Politics followed two of the aspirants and their coaches during the pilot program as they applied to vacancies. Here is an excerpt from this week’s cover story:

With the exception of Denver County Court, the path to a judgeship on any county court, district court, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court is the same across the state. A citizen-led commission looks at applications, finds two or three finalists, and sends them to the governor for the ultimate decision. Once appointed, the voters decide whether to retain judges for terms of varying lengths.

After becoming a magistrate, Phelicia Kossie-Tonje succeeded in making the shortlist on three occasions for positions in Arapahoe County Court, Douglas County Court and Adams County Court. In each case, after failing to get the appointment, she was told the successful candidates had stronger connections to the jurisdiction or were a better fit.

Kossie-Tonje interpreted “better fit” to mean political ties.

“The one good thing I have been told from members of the governor’s staff is that my interview skills have improved. There’s no deficit,” she said. They reportedly told her, “Keep doing the work.”

“That’s always a positive. They don’t always tell people to keep trying. They say thank you, and that’s the end of the call,” she said.

After the third rejection, Kossie-Tonje stepped back to ponder her applications, all for courts in different counties.

“Is that the message you wanna send?” she asked herself. “Or do you want to say that you are actually devoted to one place? Because every nominating commission wants to know you want to improve that jurisdiction. So, if you’re flirting with other jurisdictions, that shows you’re not as devoted.”

Roe v. Wade

?  Obviously the huge judicial news from last week was the leaked draft opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that could – and, apparently, will – rescind longstanding constitutional protections for abortion. While Colorado will not be as adversely impacted as other states, here are some of the local reactions to the leaked opinion (first reported by POLITICO):

Lines drawn as leaked draft to strike down Roe sparks outrage, cheers among Colorado politicos

A decision to overturn Roe v. Wade could jolt Colorado’s November election, strategists say

A short history of Colorado’s abortion activism from 1891 to present

 Appellate news

?  A detective in Eagle County kept questioning a man suspected of child sex abuse, even though he had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The state’s Court of Appeals ordered a new trial with the statements suppressed.

?  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, took the unusual step of overturning a judge’s injunction against the City and County of Denver by relying on an argument that Denver itself never employed in its own defense. Judge Veronica S. Rossman, the newest member of the court, described in dissent how problematic she found that maneuver.

Vacancies and appointments

?  The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary is holding a nominations hearing this Wednesday, and the Court Crawl is told that Nina Y. Wang, the president’s nominee for a federal judgeship in Colorado, may be among the nominees who senators hear from.

?  Applications are due by May 27 to succeed District Court Judges Ramsey L. Lama and Stephen A. Groome in the 11th Judicial District (Chaffee, Custer, Fremont and Park counties).

?  The governor has appointed John W. Stenger, who works on juvenile cases, to the Rio Grande County Court, succeeding Judge Barbara A. Zollars.

Miscellaneous decisions

?  A federal judge has declined to dismiss a voter intimidation lawsuit against a Colorado group, and instead has set a hearing for a preliminary injunction.

?  A 1790 law about crimes committed on the high seas will not help a man accused of murdering his wife on foreign soil to get his trial transferred, a federal judge ruled.

?  Medical experts told a grand jury that the administration of ketamine to Elijah McClain was responsible for his 2019 death, according to documents an Adams County judge attempted to prevent The Denver Gazette from reporting about.

?  A bill to revamp the state’s judicial discipline commission is still undergoing changes in the final days of the legislative session.