The unveiling of new map proposals by Democrat and Republican parties over the last few days has renewed focus on the legal battle to determine the boundaries of Colorado’s Congressional districts, since the legislature (specifically the state senate) failed to do its job by passing redistricting legislation as required by the Colorado Constitution and sent it to the courts for the fourth consecutive decade at the end of the legislative session in May) .

Republicans were first to file their proposed Congressional district map in court (on Friday); interestingly, it makes few changes from the map drawn by the courts (in violation of Colorado’s clear constitutional language assigning responsibility for Congressional redistricting to the General Assembly) a decade ago.

…under the GOP map, Baca County on the southeastern border is the only entire county to moved into another district. …

The GOP also said the map “moves the “absolute fewest number of Coloradans” possible in order to accomodate (sic) population shifts in the last decade, according to court records.

On Monday, the Democrats filed their map with the court - which “proposed dramatic changes to Colorado’s congressional boundaries.”  As noted in the Denver Post’s article, the most radical changes would be to the 6th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Mike Coffman, moving the district significantly northward to include all of Aurora, dividing the western half of both Arapahoe and Adams counties and extending into Weld County, and moving Douglas and Elbert counties to the 4th Congressional District (currently represented by freshman Republican Cory Gardner), which would lose most of Larimer County to the 2nd Congressional District (represented by Democrat Jared Polis).

The 7th Congressional District (represented by Democrat Ed Perlmutter) would shift west to include the north-metro suburbs in western Adams County (which would thus be split between three different congressional districts) and the west-metro suburbs of northeastern Jefferson County (which would be split between two congressional districts, with the remainder in the 2nd District along with Boulder).

View maps here.

Neither set of maps seems ideal (the GOP map’s perpetuation of the unsightly court-created 7th CD “claw” around the northern metro Denver area remains troublesome); it remains to be seen whether the courts will strictly adhere to the constitutional criteria guiding the boundaries of legislative districts, according to established precedent, or if they’ll be swayed by more “non-neutral” political considerations (such as those enacted under the “Mary-mandering” legislation passed at the conclusion of the 2010 legislative session).

The “Hobbs Hierarchy” should be the decisive criteria for evaluating the constitutionality of Colorado’s Congressional and legislative districts; in priority order:

• Equal population (U.S. Constitution, 14th Amendment, Equal Protection one person/one vote)
• Maintain County boundaries intact unless necessary to achieve equal population (Colorado Constitution Art. V, Section 47(2))
• Maintain municipal boundaries intact unless necessary to achieve equal population (Colorado Constitution Art. V, Section 47(2))
• Districts must be as compact as possible and composed of contiguous election precincts (Colorado Constitution Art. V, Section 47(1))
• Communities of interest - ethnic, economic, cultural, demographic, trade area and geographic - shall be preserved within a single district wherever possible. (Art. V, Section 47(3))

In any event, the case (combined cases, actually) bears careful watching as it plays out in court.

• Read the Republican redistricting lawsuit here.
• Read the Democrat redistricting lawsuit here.

Additional references:

• Constitutional Provisions Controlling Reapportionment/Redistricting (official Colorado state website, which collates relevant constitutional language on Congressional redistricting and state legislative reapportionment)
• Redistricting in Colorado (Ballotpedia site - although the site contains several errors, some of which are being corrected, it does provide useful context and historical background on past restricting battles.  As with any Wiki site - contributions come from a variety of sources and are frequently edited - proceed with some skepticism)

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

Continuing coverage of the pair of lawsuits seeking to have the courts decide educational policy in Colorado (the Douglas County school choice case, and the Lobato statewide educational funding case) over the weekend highlights the increasing role of the courts (as opposed to elected school boards, or the state legislature in whom constitutional authority for making education policy & resourcing decisions is vested) in deciding how - and under what conditions -  our children receive an education.

• Lobato v. Colorado school funding lawsuit:

Friday’s Denver Post published a guest commentary (”Lobato case is crucial to education“) that was nothing more than a special-interest plea for more money (that the state does not have) by the same people (a pair of school superintendants) who in one breath admit that “we find ourselves failing” but blame their failure solely on a “lack of resources” (never mind the successful accomplishments of other schools, particularly - but not only - charter and private schools less dependent on state funding).

The guest commentary fails utterly to substantiate a link between educational funding and performance, and fails to make the case for how “Colorado’s school funding system… is constitutionally inadequate” - since the Constitution leaves such questions of policy up to the state legislature, NOT the courts.

This educational-funding lawsuit (seeking to force even higher state educational spending by court order) represents yet another abuse of the courts for the pursuit of political ends - unfortunately aided and abetted by an all-too-complicit (and highly political) majority on the Colorado Supreme Court, which previously (October 2009) overturned two lower courts which had (correctly) dismissed the case (Lobato v. Colorado) as non-justiciable (meaning, a policy issue not to be decided by the courts).

The authors are correct in one regard:

In terms of the future of public education, Lobato is the most important case ever tried in Colorado.

If the courts are able to decide “the future of public education” by judicial fiat, Colorado citizens will have lost all control and accountability over our schools.

• Douglas County school choice lawsuit:

Saturday’s Colorado Springs Gazette editorial (”Backward voucher ruling favors oppression“) was a scathing indictment of Denver District judge Michael Martinez’ ruling to stop the Douglas County school choice program via permanent injunction, calling it “a decision to segregate and oppress.”

The editorial correctly points out a fatal flaw in Judge Martinez’ ruling, which ignored governing constitutional precedent (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, No. 00-1751, decided 27 June 2002, U.S. Supreme Court) holding that voucher programs did NOT violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause:

In Colorado, education money attaches to children. With each child who enrolls, a public school gets more than $6,000 for the year.

Vouchers issue the money to parents. At that point, the money belongs to the parent and child. They are free to spend it at almost any accredited school, religious or otherwise.

The key point - that educational choice belongs to the parent, not to the government (especially, not to the courts) - bears repeating:

Once state money is converted to a voucher and given to a child, it’s no longer the government’s. It belongs to the child, who is subject to the will of a parent or guardian. Parents and guardians have the right to choose whether their children are schooled in secular or religious settings.

The Gazette’s editorial concludes by endorsing an appeal to a higher court: “Let’s hope this ignorant, backward ruling is soon overturned.”

Sunday’s Denver Post editorial (”The latest hurdle for school choice“) chimed in with (surprising!) support for the Douglas County school choice program in principle, but sounded a more cautionary note on the prospects for appellate success:

And while Douglas County officials have said they intend to appeal Denver District Judge Michael A. Martinez’s ruling, the language of his opinion - along with the current makeup of the Colorado Supreme Court - does not leave much room for optimism.

The Post’s editors have a point - they certainly are intimately familiar with the political predilections of the Colorado Supreme Court, as they are the court’s current landlords (a possible factor in the Post’s non-coverage of last year’s judicial retention elections) - but if the DougCo school board first takes their case to the Colorado Court of Appeals, which has largely been a bright spot for actually upholding the law in Colorado - they may have a decent shot at success, and will in any case build up a good record for where the case may ultimately be decided in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Finally, this morning’s (Monday) Parker Chronicle (online) reported on the first step of the appeal process (”Douglas County School District launches appeal process“):

The district announced it filed a stay of the permanent injunction filed against its choice scholarship pilot program, designed to deliver school vouchers to 500 district students. The program was stopped on Aug. 12 with the decision by Denver District Court Judge Michael Martinez, who ruled it unconstitutional in part because it routes public education money to private, religious schools,
In a news release issued Aug. 19, the district calls its motion “the first legal step in a planned appeal” of Martinez’s ruling.

Clearly, the fight for choice - and control - of education in  Colorado’s courts is just beginning.

These cases highlight the importance of fair and impartial courts and of judges who exercise proper restraint (in accordance with the rule of law) in considering - let alone deciding - issues of policy more appropriate for the elected, representative branches of government.  Our courts have an important - even vital - role to play in our society and system of government.  This is not it.

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

Citizens of Colorado hold elections every year to send representatives to different venues to consider and decide on policy (and allocate resources) for their children’s education: in odd-numbered years, for local school boards; in even-numbered years, for the state legislature, which has the constitutional authority to “provide for the establishment and maintenance of a thorough and uniform system of free public schools throughout the state.”

Yet ultimately, the decisions about how education is funded, and how schools are run, are being made in neither of these arenas, but in the courts.

News coverage this week has highlighted this fact with two prominent cases:

• Douglas County school choice voucher program
• Lobato v. Colorado education-funding lawsuit

In the Douglas County school voucher program, the issue before the court revolves around whether an elected school district board has “the broad authority to contract with private schools for the provision of a public education to public school students.” [per Education Policy Center]  One might think that making decisions about the provision of public education is precisely why county residents elect a school board, but apparently (at least in the view of the plaintiffs, and the courts in Colorado) those decisions are better made by appointed judges.

The Douglas County case also touches upon important constitutional issues such a separation of powers, establishment of religion, and collection & allocation of tax dollars, but ultimately comes down to a very basic and fundamental issue: who decides how to educate Colorado’s children?

For additional information on this case, read:

• “Judge orders halt to Douglas County voucher program“, Denver Post (12 August 2011)
• “Judge halts voucher pilot for now“, Education News Colorado (12 August 2011)
• Denver District Court ruling, Larue v. Colorado Board of Education & Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District

Lobato v. Colorado education-funding lawsuit

The case with far broader implications for public education in Colorado (and the state’s budget) is the Lobato v. Colorado education-funding lawsuit, which just wrapped up the 2nd week (in a trial expected to last 5 weeks total) of testimony and argument, also in Denver District Court.

In this lawsuit, plaintiffs allege (on the basis of a single phrase in the state Constitution, without regard for the actual assignment of decision-making authority and responsibility to the state legislature in that same phrase) that Colorado’s school-funding system is “unconstitutional.”  Plaintiffs seek an additional $3-4 BILLION per year in state spending (plus a near-term increase in school construction of some $18 Billion) to “fix” the alleged constitutional deficit.

One not need look very far (indeed, just across the border to Kansas) to see the potential for a fiscal and budgetary train wreck of epic proportions.  Indeed, as Governor Hickenlooper correctly points out, the consequences for Colorado would be “devastating.”

This educational-funding lawsuit (seeking to force even higher state educational spending by court order) represents yet another abuse of the courts for the pursuit of political ends - unfortunately aided and abetted by an all-too-complicit (and highly political) majority on the Colorado Supreme Court, which previously (October 2009) overturned two lower courts which had (correctly) dismissed the case (Lobato v. Colorado) as non-justiciable (meaning, a policy issue not to be decided by the courts).

Bottom Line: the lawsuit seeks money the state simply does not have, based on extremely tenuous grounds (a few words in the state Constitution calling for “thorough and uniform” education), and is improperly seeking to achieve these goals via the courts, not through the legislative branch or local school boards where such issues are properly decided.

The issue of educational funding is NOT one for the courts, but rather for the legislature and/or local school boards. The Lobato lawsuit is a fiscal, legal, and political disaster in the making.

Read more about the Lobato school funding case in these recent articles:

• “Lobato case primer” (Education News Colorado, 11 August 2011)
• “Lobato lawsuit unfounded” (Denver Post, 11 August 2011)
• “In Lobato, might high court issue a ruling it can’t enforce?” (Colorado News Agency, 11 August 2011)

These cases highlight the importance of fair and impartial courts and of judges who exercise proper restraint (in accordance with the rule of law) in considering - let alone deciding - issues of policy more appropriate for the elected, representative branches of government.  Our courts have an important - even vital - role to play in our society and system of government.  This is not it.

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

The Denver-based Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) - “a national, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the process and culture of the civil justice system” - is hosting a National Conference on Evaluating Appellate Judges on 11-12 August on the campus of the University of Denver (Sturm Hall, 2000 E. Asbury Avenue, Denver CO 80208).

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is, by special invitation, a featured panelist on the topic of “Evaluating Appellate Judges: Are we doing it right? How can we do it better?”

(Short answers: “NO”, and “view our Evaluations of Judicial Performance page for an idea”).

To the Institute’s credit, they (IAALS) extended the invitation even after being taken to task for their involvement in the “Know Your Judge” campaign which likely violated Colorado campaign finance laws in advocating against Clear The Bench Colorado’s judicial accountability efforts during the state’s 2010 judicial retention elections without ever bothering to register with the Office of Secretary of State, as required by law.  (The case is currently winding its way through the appellate process).

Since being announced last month, the conference has gained attention in the legal profession press, both locally (the Denver Bar Association and Colorado Bar Association featured the event in their respective newsletters, following Law Week Colorado’s coverage) and nationally:

• “Conference will explore how to evaluate judges“, LegalNewsLine.com
• “Top Iowa Judge, Colorado Activist to Address Conference“, ‘Justice At Stake’

For more on the topic (and for “what promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking” discussion), you’ll have to attend the conference, which is open to the public and free of charge (register online).

From the conference website:

This national conference will consider ways to improve existing processes for evaluating the performance of appellate judges and for informing voters about evaluation results. Chief Justice Mark Cady of the Iowa Supreme Court is the featured speaker. We invite you to join us for what promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking event.

For Colorado attorneys and judges, 9 hours of general CLE credits, including 1.2 hours of ethics, may be earned.

Click here for the conference agenda.

Topics include:

• The appellate judge: What makes a good appellate judge? Can we capture these qualities in the evaluation process?
• Evaluating appellate judges: Are we doing it right? How could we do it better?
• Retention elections, special interests, and voters: Perspectives from a justice, a journalist, and a scholar

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

The potentially budget-busting Lobato v. Colorado education-funding lawsuit - restored to life in October 2009 by the Colorado Supreme Court after having been rejected as non-justiciable by two lower courts - enters its second week of trial court hearings today.

Numerous analysts and commentators have noted that if the Lobato lawsuit succeeds, it will negatively impact Colorado’s schools and end up hurting - not helping - Colorado’s school-age children.  Shortly before the lawsuit went to trial last Monday, Colorado’s Democrat Governor John Hickenlooper and Republican Attorney General John Suthers took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement opposing the lawsuit, “arguing that it could cost the state billions of dollars if it loses in court.”

Over the weekend, Colorado’s leading newspapers weighed in further on the issue.

Sunday’s Denver Post (”Future uncertain if plaintiffs win education-funding Lobato case“) highlighted the uncertainty around just how deeply the lawsuit could affect Colorado’s budget if successful, calling it “uncharted territory.”  The Post article did note, however:

In other states where such school-funding “adequacy” suits have prevailed, court decisions have forced greater spending on schools. (Emphasis added)

The Pueblo Chieftain’s Sunday editorial, “Billions More,” was less timorous in its conclusions:

HERE WE are trying to dig ourselves out of the Great Recession, with Colorado’s state budget barely balanced with scads of gimmicks, and now a group is seeking a court order for the state to spend umpteen billions more on public schools.

The article further noted the dubious constitutional grounds for the lawsuit:

Attorney General John Suthers argues - correctly, we believe - that discretion in school funding constitutionally rests with voters and lawmakers, not the courts. He said a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could cost the state up to $4 billion annually.

Worse, the article notes, the plaintiffs have also asked for massive - and immediate - increases in school construction:

Moreover, because the lawsuit asks for massive new school construction, the suit could cost the state an additional $18 billion. (Emphasis added)

Bottom Line: the lawsuit seeks money the state simply does not have, based on extremely tenuous grounds (an expository phrase in the state Constitution calling for “thorough and uniform” education), and is improperly seeking to achieve these goals via the courts, not through the legislative branch where such issues are properly decided.

The issue of educational funding is NOT one for the courts, but rather for the legislature and/or local school boards. The Lobato lawsuit is a fiscal, legal, and political disaster in the making.

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

The Colorado Reapportionent Commission (charged with drawing our state legislative districts) has completed the final set of preliminary legislative district maps for Colorado, having heard public testimony in meetings in Denver from 31 May to 25 July and bringing the maps to a vote in committee.

The commission now takes the show on the road, traveling around the state to solicit additional public testimony and feedback on the preliminary legislative district maps, beginning Thursday August 4th and continuing through Thursday, September 1st.

For quick reference, a summary of the Colorado Reapportionment Commission travel schedule follows:
Salida (Aug 4th), Gunnison (Aug 5th), Montrose (Aug 6th), Grand Junction(Aug 6th), Aurora (Aug 8th), Golden (Aug 9th), Fort Collins (Aug 11th), Durango (Aug 12th),  Alamosa (Aug 13th), Trinidad (Aug 13th), Boulder (Aug 15th), Littleton (Aug 16th), Lamar (Aug 19th), Burlington (Aug 20th), Sterling (Aug 20th), Pueblo (Aug 22nd), Colorado Springs (Aug 23rd), Brighton (Aug 24th), Steamboat Springs (Aug 26th), Glenwood Springs (Aug 27th, Frisco (Aug 27th), Greeley (Aug 29th), Castle Rock (Aug 30th), back in Denver (Aug 31st), and Broomfield (Sept 1st).

(Details on meeting times and locations available here)

The preliminary state legislative district maps approved by the Colorado Reapportionment Commission may be viewed in their entirety via the following links:

Statewide House district maps (overview and detail)

Statewide Senate district maps (overview and detail)

Maps by Region (with commission votes, as approved):

Region 1 (Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Huerfano, Las Animas, Mineral, Rio Grande, Pueblo, and Saguache Counties)

House 7-4   (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 1 House districts)
Senate 9-2  (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 1 Senate districts)

Region 2 (Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Elbert, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Otero, Phillips, Prowers, Sedgwick, and Washington, Yuma Counties)
House 11-0  (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 2 House districts)
Senate          (No Senate plans have been adopted for this region)

Region 3 (Archuleta, Chaffee, Delta, Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Gunnison, Hindsdale, Jackson, La Plata, Lake, Mesa, Moffat, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, Pitkin, Routt, Rio Blanco, San Miguel, and Summit Counties)
House 6-5     (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 3 House districts)
Senate 11-0  (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 3 Senate districts)

Region 4 (Clear Creek, Custer, Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, Gilpin, Park, and Teller Counties)
House 7-4   (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 4 House districts)
Senate 8-3  (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 4 Senate districts)

Region 5 (Larimer and Weld Counties)
House 6-5   (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 5 House districts)
Senate 6-5  (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 5 Senate districts)

Region 6 & 7 (Region Six - Arapahoe and Denver Counties; Region Seven - Adams, Boulder, Broomfield and Jefferson Counties)
House 6-5   (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 6 & 7 House districts)
Senate 6-5  (Click here to view preliminary map for Region 6 & 7 Senate districts)

Additional references:

Additional information is also available on the Reapportionment Commission website.

Constitutional Provisions Controlling Reapportionment/Redistricting (state government website which collates relevant constitutional language on Congressional redistricting and state legislative reapportionment)

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

Days before a landmark school-funding lawsuit goes to trial, Gov. John Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers on Thursday took a pre-emptive bipartisan stand against the legal challenge, arguing that it could cost the state billions of dollars if it loses in court. (Denver Post, “Colorado governor, attorney general stand against education-funding challenge“)

When Colorado’s Democrat Governor and Republican Attorney General agree that “education funding should be left to the legislature and voters” and not decided by the courts, it might be an indication of the return of some level of fiscal sanity to state government (or a sign of the impending apocalypse).

Unfortunately, the restoration of some level of sanity to Colorado’s judicial branch (which recently earned the state the title of “judicial hellhole“) may take a bit longer.

This educational-funding lawsuit (seeking to force even higher state educational spending by court order) represents yet another abuse of the courts for the pursuit of political ends - unfortunately aided and abetted by an all-too-complicit (and highly political) majority on the Colorado Supreme Court.

Current Chief Justice Michael Bender (together with disgraced then-Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey, joined by justices Alex Martinez and Greg Hobbs) overturned two lower courts which had (correctly) dismissed the case (Lobato v. Colorado) as non-justiciable (meaning, not to be decided by the courts).

Unfortunately - thanks to the Colorado Supreme Court’s majority injecting their personal sympathies ahead of the law - this lawsuit has already cost the state tens of thousands, and if upheld will likely lead to court-ordered increases in funding (and, inevitably, taxation) - a violation of separation of powers, and yet another unconstitutional tax increase facilitated by the Colorado Supreme Court.

One not need look very far (indeed, just across the border to Kansas) to see the potential for a fiscal and budgetary train wreck of epic proportions.  Indeed, as Governor Hickenlooper correctly points out, the consequences for Colorado would be “devastating.”

The issue of educational funding is NOT one for the courts, but rather for the legislature and/or local school boards. The Lobato lawsuit is a fiscal, legal, and political disaster in the making.

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

Colorado’s Reapportionent Commission (charged with drawing our state legislative districts) has completed the final set of preliminary legislative district maps for Colorado, revealing the six-county (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, and Jefferson counties) Denver metro area maps (following the previous week’s marathon session combining public testimony for Regions 6 and 7 on a single day).

The commission’s most recent meeting (18 July) discussed the preliminary district maps for state House and Senate districts for Region 6 (Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, and Jefferson counties) and Region 7 (Denver and Arapahoe counties) - public testimony on districts in those regions actually occurred a week earlier, on 11 July).

(Click here to view preliminary map for Region 6 & 7 Senate districts)

(Click here to view preliminary map for Region 6 & 7 House districts)

Interestingly enough, both sets of maps (House and Senate, for Regions 6 & 7) were approved on a nearly party-line vote of 6-5, with unaffiliated commission chair Mario Carrera casting the deciding vote in each instance, once with Republicans (for the House maps) and once with the Democrats (for the Senate maps).

Click here for the full schedule of public hearings on state legislative districts.

Additional information is also available on the Reapportionment Commission website.

Additional references:

Constitutional Provisions Controlling Reapportionment/Redistricting (state government website which collates relevant constitutional language on Congressional redistricting and state legislative reapportionment)

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

The Denver-based Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) - “a national, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the process and culture of the civil justice system” - is hosting a National Conference on Evaluating Appellate Judges on 11-12 August on the campus of the University of Denver (Sturm Hall, 2000 E. Asbury Avenue, Denver CO 80208).

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is, by special invitation, a featured panelist on the topic of “Evaluating Appellate Judges: Are we doing it right? How can we do it better?”

(Short answers: “NO”, and “view our Evaluations of Judicial Performance page for an idea”).

To the Institute’s credit, they (IAALS) extended the invitation even after being taken to task for their involvement in the “Know Your Judge” campaign which likely violated Colorado campaign finance laws in advocating against Clear The Bench Colorado’s judicial accountability efforts during the state’s 2010 judicial retention elections without ever bothering to register with the Office of Secretary of State, as required by law.  (The case is currently winding its way through the appellate process).

For more on the topic (and for “what promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking” discussion), you’ll have to attend the conference, which is open to the public (register online).

From the conference website:

This national conference will consider ways to improve existing processes for evaluating the performance of appellate judges and for informing voters about evaluation results. Chief Justice Mark Cady of the Iowa Supreme Court is the featured speaker. We invite you to join us for what promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking event.

For Colorado attorneys and judges, 9 hours of general CLE credits, including 1.2 hours of ethics, may be earned.

Click here for the conference agenda.

Topics include:

• The appellate judge: What makes a good appellate judge? Can we capture these qualities in the evaluation process?
• Evaluating appellate judges: Are we doing it right? How could we do it better?
• Retention elections, special interests, and voters: Perspectives from a justice, a journalist, and a scholar

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.

Colorado’s Reapportionent Commission (charged with drawing our state legislative districts) has completed the first round of public testimony on legislative district boundaries (last week’s marathon session covered six metro Denver counties).  Meetings continue this week, however, with new district maps for metro Denver counties set to be introduced in open hearings, beginning at 9:30AM in the Legislative Services Building (Hearing Room A) on 200 East 14th Avenue, Denver CO 80203 (which is located just across the street to the south of the Colorado state Capitol building).  The hearing will also be broadcast over the Internet for those unable to attend in person.  (View meeting agenda here

The commission’s most recent meeting (11 July) discussed the preliminary district maps for state House and Senate districts for Region 5 (Larimer and Weld Counties - public testimony on districts in that region actually occurred two weeks earlier, on 27 June).

(Click here to view preliminary map for Region 5 Senate districts)

(Click here to view preliminary map for Region 5 House districts)

Click here for the full schedule of public hearings on state legislative districts.

Additional information is also available on the Reapportionment Commission website.

Additional references:

Constitutional Provisions Controlling Reapportionment/Redistricting (state government website which collates relevant constitutional language on Congressional redistricting and state legislative reapportionment)

Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts.  We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.

However, we can’t do it alone -  we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions.  Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.

Ultimately, though - it’s worth the effort.