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ColoradoState Commission on Judicial Performance
Lance M. Sears, Chair
Oct. 14, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact:Jane B. Howell, Program Director
303/837-3665
1-800-888-0001 Ext. 665
Blue Book containing judge evaluations mailed to all registered voters
The 2004 judicial performance narrative profiles and recommendations have been mailed to every voter household in the Ballot Analysis Booklet (Blue Book) published by Legislative Council. Approximately 1.6 million Blue Books were mailed throughout the state in the last two weeks of September. Blue Books are mailed according to eight different regions in the state. Publication of the evaluation results in the book provides a uniform method of distributing the narrative profiles and recommendations statewide.
Voters statewide cast their ballots for appellate judges and district court judges for the judicial district in which they reside. They will also vote for county court judges seeking retention in their respective counties.
There are 83 appellate, district and county judges standing for retention in the Nov. 2, 2004, general election. These include five court of appeals judges, 37 district court judges and 41 county court judges. Eighty-one of the judges received a “Retain” recommendation from their commission and two received a “No Opinion”.
Under the Colorado Constitution, state judges are appointed rather than elected under a judicial merit selection system. Once appointed, each judge is subject to a non-partisan retention election upon completion of his or her term. All newly appointed judges stand for retention after serving a provisional two-year term. If retained by the voters after serving the initial term, county judges stand for retention every four years, district judges every six years, court of appeals judges every eight years and supreme court justices every 10 years. All judges standing for retention are evaluated by local judicial performance evaluation commissions in each judicial district.
Colorado’s state and 22 district judicial performance commissions are charged with providing voters with fair, responsible and constructive evaluations of individual justices and judges seeking retention, and to provide judges with useful information concerning their performance. The judges’ evaluations result from surveys; a personal interview with the judge; a self-evaluation completed by the judge;and information from other appropriate sources, such as court observations, letters submitted by interested parties, oral interviews with people appearing before the judge on a regular basis and public hearings. The commissions then develop a narrative for each judge with a recommendation stated as “retain”, “do not retain” or “no opinion”.
Judges may comment generally on how the judicial retention process works. The Judicial Code of Conduct guides judges as to the type of comment they can make on retention elections as well as other subjects. The Code prohibits judges from engaging in any campaign activity in connection with a retention election unless the judge faces active opposition to his or her retention in office.
The commission members are appointed by the Colorado chief justice, governor, president of the senate and speaker of the house. Each consists of 10 citizen volunteer members: four attorneys and six non-attorneys. Commission members serve a four-year term with a maximum of twoterms served.
Additional information on the judges can be obtained on the Internet at the Colorado Judicial Performance Commission website, which contains the narrative profiles and results of the independent judicial performance surveys for each judge.
Editor’s note: Information about Colorado’s Commissions on Judicial Performance is available at .
This information is provided as an e-mail service of the Colorado State Judicial Branch, Office of State Court Administrator, 1301 Pennsylvania Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colo. 80203. To discontinue this service or update your e-mail address, please respond to this message with your name, contact information and any comments.