By Jon Sarche
Special to The SUN
The Colorado Judicial Branch has announced the opening of the application period for 29 attorney and non-attorney vacancies on the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission and Judicial Nominating Commissions in 16 judicial districts.
Each judicial district in Colorado has a nominating commission comprising three attorneys and four non-attorneys who select nominees for appointment to county and district judgeships. The Supreme Court Nominating Commission is made up of seven attorneys and seven non-attorneys and one non-attorney at-large member. Each of Colorado’s seven Congressional Districts is represented by one attorney and one non-attorney on the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, which selects nominees for positions on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
All members of judicial nominating commissions serve as volunteers. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Oct. 11, 2013.
Application forms for attorneys may be found on the Colorado Judicial Department website at www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Supreme_Court/Nominating.cfm. Completed application forms may be mailed to Cheryl Stevens, Colorado Supreme Court, 2 E. 14th Ave., Denver, CO 80203; faxed to her attention at (720) 625-5148; or sent via e-mail to cheryl.stevens@judicial.state.co.us.
Application forms and instructions for non-attorneys may be found on the Governor’s Office website at www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovHickenlooper/CBON/1249674847715.
Article VI, Section 24 of the Colorado Constitution requires that for any nominating commission, “no more than one-half of the commission members plus one, exclusive of the Supreme Court justice serving as ex officio chair, shall be members of the same political party.” The Constitution also requires that at least one commissioner reside in each of the counties of the district. Applicants must reside in the judicial district — or, for the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, the congressional district — to which they are applying for appointment.
There is one non-attorney vacancy to fill in 6th Judicial District committee (Archuleta, La Plata and San Juan counties).
Supreme Court commission: Two attorney and three non-attorney vacancies; one attorney appointee must be from the 1st Congressional District and the other attorney appointee must be from the 6th Congressional District; one non-attorney appointee must be from the 3rd Congressional District and one non-attorney appointee must be from the 6th Congressional District (the third non-attorney vacancy is the at-large position).
