Lawyers and retired judges spoke on the steps of the Denver City and County Building on Thursday, joining their counterparts nationwide to rally in support of the rule of law and speak out about threats they see at the federal level.

“This is really my first rally-protest since I was 23 years old. I’m now 79,” said retired Denver County Court Judge Gary M. Jackson. “I’m basically doing this because in my career, which spans 54 years, I’ve taken the oath to the Colorado Constitution and the U.S. Constitution four separate times. I’ve led my professional career and my life by the rule of law.”

Jackson organized the “Law Day” event — along with Lorraine Parker, Mary A. Wells and Pat Ridley — to mirror similar gatherings across the country, including outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Although Law Day normally occurs on May 1 to raise awareness about the legal system, Jackson said this year’s was the first rally-type event he organized.

Michael A. Martinez, the retired chief judge of the Denver District Court who served for more than 20 years on the bench, also said he had participated in Law Day events before, but they had a “little bit of a different tenor” than the 2025 gathering at which he spoke. He told Colorado Politics the Code of Judicial Conduct generally prohibits political activity for sitting judges.

“I think they have to tread delicately, but the code of conduct affords them some flexibility, in terms of events that promote the rule of law,” he said. “It’s difficult. You want to ensure you’re not bringing any improper attention to the position, any improper criticism for your actions as a judicial officer, if you’re a seated judicial officer.”

Jackson said the organizers sent an invitation to 18,000 attorneys, which described the rule of law as being “under daily assault.” Speakers at the Denver event raised an array of recent developments out of the Trump administration, such as President Donald Trump’s enlistment of large law firms to do work on behalf of his favored causes in exchange for dropping sanctions, mass firings of federal workers and the arrest of a state judge at her courthouse in Wisconsin.

“I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law and they are not,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said last week.

The Trump administration has taken the position in litigation, including one case pending in Colorado, that the president has broad authority in areas such as foreign policy. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys have argued against judicial intervention, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintaining on Wednesday that he “will never tell a judge” about the executive branch’s efforts to return a wrongly removed man from El Salvador.

Federal judges have repeatedly enjoined the administration’s actions, with the Supreme Court even stepping in to affirm that detained non-citizens are entitled to due process, not summary removal.

“When the rules don’t matter, when we do not have the rule of law,” said newly elected Denver District Attorney John Walsh, “no one is safe. … I don’t know about you, but my life is not run by someone in Washington, D.C. No one in the United States should have their life run by someone in Washington, D.C.”

Walsh’s predecessor as district attorney, Beth McCann, also spoke at the gathering to say, as a prosecutor, she was “devastated” by Trump’s pardon of his supporters who were convicted for attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The judicial branch is our only hope to stand up for the rule of law at this time,” she said. “I am going to continue to put my faith in our judiciary and our rule of law and I am going to implore our judiciary members to stand strong.”

Public defender Joyce Akhahenda cautioned that the rule of law, as applied by the judiciary, can also lead to unwelcome outcomes. She cited specifically the Supreme Court’s decisions to allow large-scale organizational spending in elections and to immunize official presidential acts from criminal liability as examples.

“This uphill battle is nothing new. And I can say as a public defender, I’m used to fighting uphill battles,” she said.

Attorney General Phil Weiser told rally attendees that he joined a 15th lawsuit this week filed against the administration. Weiser, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, read from the 14th Amendment, which provides, in part, that states shall not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

“It is a rare day when the due process clause of the 14th Amendment becomes an applause line,” Weiser quipped after the audience clapped.

In addition to the rally at city hall, a second gathering occurred simultaneously at the Byron Rogers Federal Building blocks away.