View From a Height

The Joys of Federalism

One of the pleasures of a federal system is that every state does things just a little bit differently. John Andrews writes first to correct an error. Gov. Owens did in fact appoint the oft-dissenting Justice Coats, so this would be his second appointment, not his first.

As to the process of appointing state Supreme Court Justices, apparently a nominating commission recommends three candidates, of whom the governor gets to pick one. There's no further immediate review, but the voters must approve the new Justice for a 10-year term, in the first even-numbered year after the appointment.

The membership of the nominating commission is quite remarkable:

The chief justice of the supreme court chairs the commission and is a non-voting member. This commission includes one citizen admitted to practice law in Colorado and one citizen not admitted to practice law residing in each of the state’s seven congressional districts, and one additional citizen not admitted to practice law in Colorado.

...

Commission members serve six-year terms. Non-lawyers, who are the majority of every nominating commission, are appointed by the governor. Lawyer members are appointed by joint action of the governor, attorney general, and chief justice.

The idea of deliberately including non-lawyers at the highest levels of the process is heartening. Giving them an outright majority takes checks and balances to practically Athenian levels.

I would point out, though, that Justice Coats was appointed in 2000, a little over a year into Governor Owens's first term. I assume the terms are staggered, so the membership of the nomination commission would still be overwhelmingly holdovers from Gov. Romer's tenure. This would be the first Justice appointed using players Gov. Owens had recruited, so to speak.