Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government.

The Denver-based federal appeals court declined to disrupt the trial court orders in a pair of controversial cases, plus a state judge resigned his seat after admitting to misconduct.

10th Circuit action

•  It was a good week for U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rejected a pair of requests to stay, or suspend, her prior orders in two high-profile cases. First, it allowed her 14-day temporary restraining order to remain in effect requiring the government to abide by procedural safeguards before removing alleged “alien enemies” pursuant to a Trump administration directive.

•  Second, the 10th Circuit dismissed a request to stay Sweeney’s order requiring Elizabeth School District to return 19 restricted books to library shelves in light of a likely First Amendment violation. Shortly afterward, she told the district to restore the books by Friday, which it did.

Judge resigns

•  District Court Judge Justin B. Haenlein of northeastern Colorado’s 13th Judicial District resigned his seat at the end of April. He was in the middle of disciplinary proceedings over allegations he used his position to help a former client with her domestic relations case, and also presided over criminal cases in which he had undisclosed personal connections. Haenlein admitted to the underlying allegations, while disputing certain details.

•  Although Haenlein’s position is that the disciplinary panel hearing his case — established under the voter-approved Amendment H last November — can only impose a censure at this point, there is a scheduled status conference for the case later this week. We’ll see what the panel thinks.

Heard on appeal

•  The state Supreme Court overturned a trial judge’s prohibition on the use of an alleged sex assault victim’s childhood journal entries at trial.

•  The state’s Court of Appeals concluded a major 2021 transportation funding law doesn’t violate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights or a ballot measure that requires voter approval for certain government “enterprises.”

•  Denver’s child welfare department agreed about custody arrangements with two parents, but then asked a judge to impose more restrictive conditions without getting the mother and father’s input. The Court of Appeals found the move unfair.

In federal news

•  The 10th Circuit rejected the idea that a trial judge intimidated a defense attorney into not objecting by scolding the attorney about what he viewed as obstructionist behavior.

•  A federal judge agreed jurors will hear some of the defamation claims from a former executive of Dominion Voting Systems who was accused of rigging the 2020 election, based on the unproven statements of one man.

•  A man incarcerated in Colorado’s “Supermax” prison cannot sue over one employee’s allegedly negligent response to his hunger strike.

•  A federal judge received three different answers about whether he could discard the government’s “statement of interest” in the civil case of convicted Mesa County clerk Tina Peters.

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez spoke at Regis University’s commencement ceremonies over the weekend and recounted a personal story of befriending a man on death row while she was a law school intern, and maintaining a pen pal relationship for 13 years until his execution.

•  Lawyers and retired judges assembled on the steps of Denver’s city hall last week as part of a national “Law Day” effort to rally in support of the judiciary and the rule of law. There were counterpart demonstrations elsewhere in the country (and even a second one in Denver). 

•  Disciplinary officials for judges and attorneys delivered a presentation about what changed with voters’ passage of Amendment H in November and what portions of the process remained unaffected.