With President-elect Donald Trump taking office in January and a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, the federal appeals court in Denver could soon see a vacancy arise for one of its Colorado-based seats.

Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich has sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit for more than 20 years. Tymkovich, 68, is an appointee of George W. Bush and is eligible for a form of semi-retirement known as “senior status.” Judges who go senior carry a part-time caseload while opening a vacancy for the president to appoint a new judge.

Tymkovich has been associated with the conservative legal movement for years and is regularly involved with the Federalist Society. Were he to take senior status, multiple lawyers who spoke to Colorado Politics described a shortlist of attorneys a Republican president may install to succeed him.

Potentially at the top is U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico. Domenico is Trump’s lone appointee to Colorado’s federal trial court, where he has accumulated a track record of conservative decision-making since he joined the bench in 2019.

Domenico has blocked the state from enforcing a ban on “abortion reversal” treatment against a Catholic health clinic, required the state to accept a Christian preschool with anti-LGBTQ policies into its universal pre-kindergarten program, exempted two Denver-area churches from certain health restrictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and permitted a Castle Rock church to circumvent zoning restrictions for faith-based reasons.

“Tymkovich is a very conservative judge so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him take senior status and Domenico get elevated,” said David Lane, a civil rights attorney.

Jason R. Dunn, Colorado’s U.S. attorney during the first Trump administration who considers Domenico a friend, said it was logical to think Domenico would be at the top of the list for a 10th Circuit appointment.

“One of the important things to know about Judge Domenico is that he calls balls and strikes and I think he sees his job as to be a neutral arbiter of disputes,” Dunn said. “While I certainly think he comes from a conservative judicial philosophy, he is a strong believer in applying the law as written and it’s not his job to make policy.”

Passed over the first time

Domenico was Colorado’s solicitor general between 2006 and 2015 under Republican Attorney General John Suthers. He argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the 10th Circuit and the Colorado Supreme Court.

Prior to that role, Domenico was a law clerk for the newly appointed Tymkovich, who himself was a former solicitor general of Colorado.

According to the questionnaire Domenico submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he first expressed interest in a district court vacancy in 2015. Then-President Barack Obama nominated a different candidate.

Around the time of Trump’s inauguration in 2017, Domenico said he spoke with Colorado’s Republican senator, Cory Gardner, about a possible nomination to the 10th Circuit. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died the prior year and the Republican majority in the Senate blocked Obama from appointing a successor before the end of his term. Neil M. Gorsuch, a 10th Circuit judge from Colorado, was a potential appointee for Trump.

“After Judge Gorsuch was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court, I reiterated my interest in the circuit court opening to Senator Gardner’s office” and the U.S. Department of Justice, Domenico wrote to the judiciary committee.

However, during a reception to celebrate Gorsuch’s swearing-in, Domenico spoke with officials from the White House Counsel’s Office. While he did not elaborate on the substance of the conversation, Domenico wrote that Gardner called him three days later to say the White House wanted to nominate Domenico for the district court, not the 10th Circuit.

Gorsuch’s seat would instead go to conservative state Supreme Court Justice Allison H. Eid, Domenico’s predecessor as solicitor general.

As a trial judge, Domenico’s tenure has been somewhat rocky. He created an unusually large backlog for himself of undecided motions in civil cases, to the point where he became a national outlier. In two instances, Tymkovich, his former boss, stepped in to resolve motions languishing on Domenico’s docket for more than 1,300 days. Only in 2024 did Domenico catch up and virtually eliminate his backlog.

“I think he likes the job he’s in, but also he was a very good appellateer,” said Dunn. “So, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he would like to be considered for that job.”

Other possible candidates in the mix

One Colorado attorney, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive judicial matters, said Domenico would probably be a contender for a 10th Circuit vacancy, but was not a lock. Among other things, he would create a vacancy on the district court. Under current Senate protocols, Colorado’s Democratic senators would have the power to prevent Trump from appointing a new trial judge, should they choose to exercise it.

Colorado Politics asked the office of Sen. Michael Bennet if he expected to be consulted for any 10th Circuit vacancy arising in Colorado, and if he and Sen. John Hickenlooper would likely exert the same degree of influence in recommending district court candidates during a second Trump presidency as they did during the Biden administration.

“Senator Bennet believes that justice delayed is justice denied, and thus he remains committed to efficiently filling judicial vacancies on Colorado’s District Courts with qualified and diverse judges, both in terms of experience and in terms of perspective,” a spokesperson responded.

Other possible contenders for Tymkovich’s seat include Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell and William E. Trachman, general counsel for the Mountain States Legal Foundation.

Through a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Grewell declined to comment.

“I have no expectation that it’ll be me, but I’d be honored to be asked or called,” said Trachman, who worked in the U.S. Department of Education during Trump’s first term and is currently the president of the Federalist Society’s Colorado chapter.

Through the district court’s clerk, Domenico declined to offer a statement about his interest in a circuit vacancy. Tymkovich also declined to comment on his plans.

Of the judges in the three Colorado-based seats on the 10th Circuit, only Tymkovich is eligible to take senior status in the next four years. Eid will not reach the necessary combination of age and years of service until the next presidential administration. Judge Veronica S. Rossman, an appointee of President Joe Biden, has only been on the court for three years.