Although every judge on the Colorado Supreme Court is appointed by the governor, all of whom were Democrats, at some point voters get a say at the ballot box in an up or down vote on whether to retain judges on the bench for another decade.
This is how America is supposed to act. Not with threats or temper tantrums.
Coloradans not happy with how the court recently split on whether Donald Trump is qualified to be on our ballot will get their say in an election, some judges sooner than later.
Interestingly, the only judge who voted to ban Trump from the ballot — Monica M. Marquez — is on the ballot in November.
Coloradans will have to cool their heels a little longer before they have a say on the other three justices who sided with her, including William W. Hood, Richard Gabriel, and Melissa Hart.
Hood will be on the ballot for retention in 2026, Gabriel is in 2028, and voters won’t get to voice their opinion on Hart until 2030.
Meanwhile, the other two justices on the ballot for retention in 2024 both voted to keep Trump on Colorado’s ballot — Maria Berkenkotter and Chief Justice Brian Boatright. The third judge who dissented with them is Justice Carlos Samour Jr., who is up for retention in 2030.
Valerie Richardson writes in The Washington Times:
Irony alert: The outcome would almost certainly have been different if Allison Eid were still on the court. The conservative jurist left the Colorado Supreme Court in 2017 to take a seat on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was replaced by Justice Hart, who voted to disqualify the former president.
Who appointed Judge Eid to the federal bench? None other than Mr. Trump.
Ouch. That left a mark.
Of the four justices who ruled to disqualify Trump, three were appointed by then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, and the fourth by former Gov. Bill Ritter.