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Former Judicial Discipline Director Files Federal Lawsuit Challenging Colorado Supreme Court Oversight
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Former Judicial Discipline Director Files Federal Lawsuit Challenging Colorado Supreme Court Oversight

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A former top official inside Colorado’s judicial discipline system is accusing the state’s highest court of protecting itself — and says he was fired after trying to hold it accountable. Christopher S.P. Gregory’s federal lawsuit names an unusually broad group of defendants: the Colorado Judicial Discipline Rulemaking Committee, the Colorado Supreme Court, Governor Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, current and former justices, senior judicial administrators, and other state officials. The breadth of the case is intentional. He is not just accusing individuals of wrongdoing. He is challenging the framework that he says allowed those individuals to influence — and ultimately suppress — the very pr...
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Colorado Senate rejects judicial discipline appointee over misconduct cover-up ties, approves another
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado Senate rejects judicial discipline appointee over misconduct cover-up ties, approves another

By David Migoya | Denver Gazette The Colorado state Senate on Wednesday rejected the reappointment of the chairwoman to the state panel that handles judicial discipline but narrowly kept its vice-chair. Needing 18 votes to confirm their reappointments to the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, chairwoman Mindy Sooter came up two votes shy (19-16 against), while Jim Carpenter was approved by the same margin. The Senate has a firm 21-14 Democratic majority. The decision to drop Sooter from the 10-member commission comes days after a Senate committee made the rare choice to refuse confirming either gubernatorial appointee. Unlike proposed legislation that can die in a committee in either house of the General Assembly, appointments by the governor, which require approval fr...
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Colorado Senate committee rejects judicial watchdog picks over misconduct concerns
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado Senate committee rejects judicial watchdog picks over misconduct concerns

By David Migoya | Denver Gazette In a bipartisan rebuke of how a years-long scandal has been handled, a Colorado Senate committee on Monday made the rare move of not approving the gubernatorial reappointment of the top two members of the state’s Commission on Judicial Discipline. Just months after voters statewide overwhelmingly chose to change how Colorado disciplines judges, the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted — 4-3, with two Democrats joining the panel’s two lone Republicans — to offer an unfavorable recommendation to the full Senate on the reappointment of Mindy Sooter and Jim Carpenter, the chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the 10-member commission. It was the committee’s last official act as the legislative session rushed to a close on Wednesday. The full...
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Northeast Colorado judge resigns after allegations of undisclosed ties to former client
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Approved, Colorado Politics, Local

Northeast Colorado judge resigns after allegations of undisclosed ties to former client

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A judge from northeastern Colorado resigned at the end of Wednesday, and, in doing so, admitted to allegations that he used his position to aid a friend in her court case and did not disclose his personal connection in other cases involving that friend. District Court Judge Justin B. Haenlein presided in the 13th Judicial District of Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties. He had been off the bench since the Colorado Supreme Court suspended him in November, pending a disciplinary investigation. In an April 29 letter addressed to Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez, he announced his resignation effective on April 30. Also on April 29, Haenlein's attorney submitted a filing to the three-member...
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Support Amendment H: Judicial discipline procedures and confidentiality
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Support Amendment H: Judicial discipline procedures and confidentiality

By Editorial Board | Editorial, Rocky Mountain Voice Ballot language: Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning judicial discipline, and, in connection therewith, establishing an independent judicial discipline adjudicative board, setting standards for judicial review of a discipline case, and clarifying when discipline proceedings become public? How it reached the ballot: House Continuing Resolution 23-1001, supported by a 60-3 vote of the House and 35-0 vote of the Senate. An overwhelming bipartisan majority of both legislative chambers sponsored the measure. Three Republicans in the House opposed the measure. Background: The measure amends Section 23 of the Colorado Constitution, pertaining to judicial discipline. Under existing law, proceedings of the...
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