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Tag: Colorado Supreme Court

Gregory: Colorado’s highest court has lost credibility
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Approved, Colorado Politics, State

Gregory: Colorado’s highest court has lost credibility

By  Christopher Gregory | Colorado Politics, Commentary Colorado is haunted by the ghosts of Watergate. Through his preemptive pardon of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford blunted the rule of law by preventing our country from ever directly addressing the wrongfulness of Nixon's conduct and having public discourse as to what accountability was appropriate. The evolution of Colorado's judicial scandal has been very similar to the chronology of Watergate. In it I have found my own spiritual camaraderie with Justice Melissa Hart's grandfather, Archibald Cox. Like me, Cox was retaliated against and fired just as his investigation of Nixon discovered critical evidence. The greatest danger to the American republic is not who voters choose to represent them but rather the selective enforcement or n...
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Colorado Supreme Court tightens child welfare case rules: No jury trial without parental presence
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado Supreme Court tightens child welfare case rules: No jury trial without parental presence

By Michael Karlik | Denver Gazette The Colorado Supreme Court adopted on Monday a package of revisions to the rules governing child welfare cases, while modifying one section that governs when a parent surrenders their right to have a jury decide if their child is neglected. Earlier this month, the justices held a hearing to evaluate the long-running group effort to revise the rules of juvenile procedure. They heard the proposed package had achieved consensus among the entities with a stake in such proceedings. The proposal reflected recent changes to state law and clarified the unique position children occupy in dependency and neglect matters — the formal name for child neglect cases. However, the Supreme Court ended up tweaking the language that des...
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Colorado lawmakers funded an office to handle complaints against judges. No one set it up.
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado lawmakers funded an office to handle complaints against judges. No one set it up.

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun In the wake of an alleged blackmail and harassment scandal that roiled the state judicial branch, the Colorado legislature in 2023 created an independent office to help ensure it didn’t happen again. But two years later, the ombudsman office still doesn’t exist — and it’s not clear why. The apparent oversight came to light this week when a legislative budget staffer — looking line by line for things to cut from the state’s operating budget to close a $1.2 billion shortfall — discovered an oddity: a $400,000 budget for an agency that had no employees, hadn’t made a budget request and didn’t appear to exist anywhere but on paper. “This independent agency does not exist,” Craig Harper, the legislative budget staff director told the Joint Budg...
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Decision ’24: Judicial retention on Colorado Supreme Court
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Decision ’24: Judicial retention on Colorado Supreme Court

By Rocky Mountain Voice | Commentary In addition to 14 amendments and statutory propositions appearing on ballots statewide and local ballot measures, voters are being asked to consider the retention of a number of state judges. The issue, readers have shared with the Rocky Mountain Voice, is finding complete information in order to make an educated decision on these positions. Below, is the first installment of our judicial retention review, beginning with three members of the Colorado Supreme Court. The three justices to review are, as they appear on your ballot: Hon. Maria E. Berkenkotter, Hon. Brian D. Boatright and Hon. Monica M. Márquez. Information on other judges will be presented in future installments of this series. Hon. Maria E. Berkenkotter Background: Justice ...
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Colorado Supreme Court dismisses latest Masterpiece Cakeshop case
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado Supreme Court dismisses latest Masterpiece Cakeshop case

By Shawn Shanle | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court, by 4-3, declined on Tuesday to address the high-profile issue of a Christian baker's refusal to make a cake for a customer celebrating a gender transition, instead concluding the case was not properly filed in the first place. Previously, a trial judge and the state's Court of Appeals agreed Masterpiece Cakeshop, owned by Jack Phillips, denied service to Autumn Scardina based on her transgender status, which amounted to a violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). The Supreme Court subsequently agreed to examine whether Phillips' cake-making was "speech" protected by the First Amendment, notwithstanding the anti-discrimination law. However, the Supreme Court ultimately did not reach ...
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‘We wanted to stand up for all taxpayers’: State Supreme Court affirms taxpayer victory against water district
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

‘We wanted to stand up for all taxpayers’: State Supreme Court affirms taxpayer victory against water district

By Jen Schumann | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice Even though it’s unlawful to increase taxes in Colorado without a vote of the people, vigilance keeps it enforced. When Northeast Coloradan residents noticed their property taxes double from 2019 to 2020, a few of them filed suit against the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District.  Unanimously, the Colorado Appellate Court ruled in March this was a violation of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).  The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed this ruling and denied the defendant’s appeal on Sept. 30. With help from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s (NTUF) Taxpayer Defense Center and Advance Colorado, James Aranci and other property owners cinched this victory reaffirming TABOR: any tax increase needs voter consent, and b...
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Colorado Supreme Court bars proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado Supreme Court bars proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday confirmed a proposed ballot initiative to ban gender-affirming care for children will not appear on the November ballot, while another measure that would revamp the state's primary elections and implement ranked-choice voting remains eligible. The justices reached their conclusions on narrow procedural grounds, revolving around the deadline for seeking Supreme Court review and the limited types of challenges the court may hear under existing law. Both initiatives arrived at the Supreme Court after consideration by the Title Board, the three-member body that screens citizen-initiated ballot measures. The board's responsibility is to determine whether a proposed initiative contains a single subject, as the st...
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1st Amendment case of Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop in front of Colorado Supreme Court
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Approved, National Review, State

1st Amendment case of Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop in front of Colorado Supreme Court

By NATAN EHRENREICH | National Review America’s favorite baker, Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop, is back in front of the Colorado Supreme Court today for yet another round of state-sponsored persecution. The question before the court: Does the First Amendment apply in Colorado, or can the state continue to harass, target, and bully speakers who don’t ascend to the state’s view of cultural issues, in direct contradiction of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings? That is not hyperbole. The Supreme Court already ruled once that Colorado unconstitutionally targeted Phillips for his religious beliefs. It also ruled a year ago that the application of Colorado law to compel speech violates the 1st Amendment. One might believe that Colorado didn’t get the message, but that’s false. It did ...
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Shooting of man standing at door not covered under ‘Make My Day’ immunity, Colorado Supreme Court rules
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Shooting of man standing at door not covered under ‘Make My Day’ immunity, Colorado Supreme Court rules

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A defendant cannot avail himself of the immunity Colorado law affords those who use lethal force against home intruders, the state Supreme Court ruled on Monday, because his victim was not inside any "dwelling" when he fired the shots. Joseph M. Howell stands accused of attempted murder and other charges. In February 2023, a man allegedly came to the ground-floor apartment in Denver where Howell lived with his mother. The man was reportedly acting "wild" and "threatening." At one point, the man stepped onto the concrete pad separating apartment complex's yard from Howell's door. From the apartment, Howell shot the man in the face through a barred, closed security door. In response to the criminal charges, Howell invoked Colorado's "Make My Day...
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