“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” — Mark Twain (1866)

Part of the reason the Colorado Legislature is so dangerous to life, liberty, and property is the often stunning lack of knowledge (particularly the basics of economics, human behavior, history, and constitutional law) displayed by our would-be rulers (er, representatives) in the General Assembly (which at least makes Colorado Politics somewhat entertaining on occasion).

A particularly egregious (and amusing) display of ignorance of how Colorado appoints judges (including Colorado Supreme Court justices) to fill any vacancies (such as, for example, those created by voting “NO” on incumbents seeking retention - hint, hint) was provided in last week’s committee hearings on the “Mary-mandering” redistricting bill (HB10-1408 Repeal Congressional Districting Criteria).  Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold was on hand to testify against the bill (which sets up the Legislature to abdicate its constitutional responsibility to draw up Congressional districts to the courts) and witnessed the following erroneous statements by Rep. Jeanne Labuda (D, HD-1) as she attempted to portray the Colorado Judiciary (and the so-called “merit selection and retention” process) as a paragon of virtue and impartiality (and a model for the rest of the country):

Rep. Labuda’s remarks (and errors) are ably tabulated and dissected by WhoSaidYouSaid’s Kelly Maher in the blog post accompanying the video (”Rep. Labuda Doesn’t Know How Colorado Appoints Judges“), although she is perhaps too kind to the Colorado Bar Association (which, although its membership certainly spans the political spectrum, as an organization leans rather “left”).  More importantly, she missed this gem in Rep. Labuda’s statement:

“We have the most apolitical judicial system in the United States - except for maybe the [Colorado] Supreme Court.”

A Freudian slip?  Clear The Bench Colorado certainly agrees that the current majority on the Colorado Supreme Court is FAR from apolitical.

Unfortunately, although the Colorado system is a well-intentioned effort to remove the politics from the judicial branch (and, on paper at least, may indeed be superior to contested elections between judicial candidates), because of the weakness of the judicial performance review process (as explained in a Guest Commentary published in the Denver Post in February, Evaluating the performance of justices) our current system has completely failed to provide any substantive means of ensuring accountability - and a check on power - of our unelected judicial branch.

Even more unfortunately, this lack of substantive review and accountability has been compounded by the utter and abject failure of the 4th Estate (journalists - the media, in general) to inform and educate the public on these important elections.  Indeed, the apparent refusal of Colorado’s newspaper of record, the Denver Post, to even cover news about the judicial retention elections (with one notable exception, which to their credit they did place on the front page, also in February:  ”Colorado Supreme Court justices face a tough vote in elections“) might lead one to believe that they are covering up for their largest tenant & renter of office space). (Nah - couldn’t be any conflict of interest there.)

“We The People” CAN act to restore accountability to our judiciary this year. Exercise your right to vote “NO” this November on the four Colorado Supreme Court unjust justices (Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and - last not least - Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your home or business from eminent domain abuse, your right to be fairly represented in government, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.” Help to support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10-year term!

Tags: Alex Martinez, Chief Justice Mullarkey, Colorado Congressional Redistricting, Colorado Constitution, Colorado Courts, Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Judges, Colorado Legislature, Colorado Politics, Colorado redistricting, Colorado Supreme Court, HB1408, judical activism, judicial accountability, judicial evaluation, judicial performance, judicial redistricting, judicial retention, judicial usurpation, Know Your Judge, legislative reapportionment, legislative redistricting, Mary Mullarkey, Mary-mandering, Michael Bender, Mullarkey Court, Mullarkey Majority, Nancy Rice, redistricting, TABOR, Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, unjust justices