The body charged with making rules for judicial discipline has released three proposed rules for public comment, plus multiple federal judges in Colorado handled cases involving the institution where they simultaneously taught as adjunct professors.

Heard on appeal

•  The Colorado Supreme Court agreed to hear cases questioning whether it’s unconstitutional to require ballot issue advocacy groups to disclose the name of their registered agents on communications, and also whether prosecutors’ conduct can invalidate crime victim restitution orders.

•  A defendant made a 16-minute statement that was interrupted by objections and yelling and wasn’t authorized by any criminal procedure. The state’s Court of Appeals determined the fairness of the trial was compromised at that point.

•  Even though an attorney and his clients concealed evidence in a civil lawsuit, the Court of Appeals faulted a Douglas County judge for imposing more than $850,000 in sanctions without explaining his reasoning.

•  A Jefferson County judge didn’t believe he could order Lakewood police to release a defendant’s car because of an earlier homicide investigation, but the Court of Appeals said he was mistaken.

•  An appellate judge took the unusual step of advocating for an ethics investigation into a law firm that concealed a potential murder weapon for three years at its office.

•  The Court of Appeals clarified that plaintiffs suing the government for injuries have the same options for appealing as the government does.

•  A Denver defendant will receive a new sentencing hearing because a trial judge didn’t give him the opportunity to speak.

Judicial discipline

•  In November, voters approved a constitutional amendment reforming the discipline process for state judges and creating a 13-member committee to make rules for judicial discipline. Last month, the committee unveiled one new rule and two modified rules for public comment. Although the rules went into effect in mid-June on an interim basis, the rule-making committee will hold a hearing in September to take additional comments in person and remotely.

•  The committee’s website instructs people to submit feedback as follows: To submit a comment in writing, please email rulemaking@jd.state.co.us with the subject line “Public Comment.” Please attach your submission as a separate document to your email in Word or PDF format. To be accepted, your written comment must include your name.

In federal news

•  Three of Colorado’s federal judges handled cases where the University of Colorado or its associated entities was a defendant at the same time they were getting paid for teaching part-time at the law school.

•  By 2-1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit deemed it a clearly established constitutional violation to ignore an emergency call from a jail detainee, even if the context of the emergency wasn’t apparent.

•  Even after the U.S. Supreme Court pushed aside one procedural hurdle, the 10th Circuit ended a man’s age discrimination lawsuit thanks to another procedural hurdle.

•  The 10th Circuit became the latest court to rule against a collection of oil and gas rights owners in southwestern Colorado seeking to avoid a retroactive tax increase.

•  A federal judge imposed more than $90,000 in sanctions and fees on podcaster Joe Oltmann for fleeing a deposition and causing months of additional litigation to occur.

•  A judge rejected a Denver woman’s challenge to Colorado’s “buffer zone” law around abortion clinics in a lawsuit that is geared towards overturning the Supreme Court’s precedent on the subject.

•  After hearing from a man who was tortured in his home country and is now in immigration detention in Aurora, a federal judge ordered a release hearing and believed there was a “real risk” the government would try to deport him unlawfully.

•  A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Jeffco Public Schools’ policy of assigning lodging on overnight trips by students’ gender identity rather than their sex.

•  Some claims will not proceed in the employment discrimination lawsuit brought by the Regional Transportation District’s ex-police chief.

•  At the request of the litigants, a judge dismissed the remaining claims brought by the survivors of the 2022 Club Q massacre, which will likely be refiled in state court.

•  A federal judge barred the state from enforcing its effective ban on “abortion reversal” treatment against a group of religious healthcare providers, but did not prohibit the law’s application to other entities.

•  The 10th Circuit found a judge erred in imposing sex offender treatment for a man’s attempted bank robbery offense. Interestingly, at the sentencing hearing in 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico — who has only been on the bench for six years — made the following quip about his (potential) future:

Vacancies and appointments

•  There are two finalists to succeed retiring District Court Judge Suzanne F. Carlson in the Sixth Judicial District (La Plata, Archuleta and San Juan counties): Archuleta County Court Judge/Magistrate Justin P. Fay and La Plata County Court Judge R. Reid Stewart.

On break

•  Court Crawl will take next week off and will return at the end of August.