Selecting Judges in Colorado: Nominating Commissions Each judicial district in the state has a nominating commission to nominate three candidates for any judicial opening in that district. A separate statewide commission selects appellate nominees. Commission members are a mix of lawyers and nonlawyers balanced between the political parties. In theory, the nominating commissions exist to insulate the rule of law from politics and influence. Every commission is chaired and directed by a justice of the state supreme court. The result is that the Colorado Supreme Court has direct influence over the process through its authority to appoint commission members and chair commission meetings. Judges and the justices also routinely endorse individual applicants. Picking the Judge The nominating commission sends 2-3 candidates to the governor. The governor then selects from among them, appointing a judge to fill the vacancy. Justices and judges routinely lobby for preferred nominees in this final selection stage. How effective is the screening done by Nominating Commissions? Go To Story Go To Story Tim Masters was wrongfully convicted of murder in Fort Collins, CO. Two prosecutors in the case would ultimately be disciplined for misconduct. While the allegations of their misconduct were pending, the two passed Nominating Commission vetting to become judges. However, voters overruled the Nomination Commission and removed both from office. Was this the system working or were its failings being overcome by the voters? Go To Story Go To Story In 2022, seven years after the Nominating Commission process finished, the lawyers hired by the judiciary would declare, without interviewing the accuser, that the 2013 allegations of harassment were "unfounded." Review the substance of their report in the "Reports" section of this site and decide for yourself if that conclusion is supported. Regardless of a 2022 conclusion, did the Nomination Commission process function adequately half a dozen years earlier when they were never informed of the allegations? Go To Story In 2023, the Colorado Judicial Discipline Commission reported that, throughout the history of the commission, 85 judges had stepped down in the face of ethics charges. That does not count the type of cases reported above. All of them had been endorsed by the Nominating Commission process. -Source : 2022 Annual Report, Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, p. 22 For more information about the nominating process, visit the Nominating Commissions' website Nominating Commission Website

Judge John Scipione As with others, Judge Scipione's case involved years of misbehavior before any action was taken. Like the other judges, in his last evaluation, the Judicial Performance Commission recommended that voters retain Judge Scipione. To Story To Story In 2021, news reporting on the Masias allegations addressed a judicial applicant who failed to disclose misconduct allegations. That news story is now difficult to find. In 2022, Judge Scipione was disciplined for failing to make disclosures in his application to be a judge. Since then, the Colorado Supreme Court has removed the question from the application to be a judge. 2021 Story Questionaire Story To Story To Evaluation