DENVER (Oct. 30, 2024) – The Colorado Judicial Institute (CJI) and the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association (CDLA) today issue this joint statement calling on Coloradans to protect the ability of our judges to decide cases based on the law and resist partisan attacks on the judiciary. Specifically, the organizations express grave concern over recent politically motivated campaigns targeting Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez for non-retention.
The organizations note that the Article III Project and other political groups have launched a campaign against Chief Justice Márquez for her participation in the Colorado Supreme Court's Trump ballot decision. Following that ruling, the court received threats of violence so severe they required FBI intervention.
The court acknowledged its constitutional obligations, and in the majority opinion the justices were “mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
CJI and CDLA support the First Amendment right to free speech, but the recent attacks go beyond simply exercising that right and the organizations warn of the dangerous precedent these attacks could set. If such efforts succeeded, they would send a chilling message to judges in Colorado and elsewhere: rule against powerful political interests at your peril. This would fundamentally undermine the integrity of our courts. It could discourage qualified candidates from seeking judicial positions, weakening our bench for generations to come.
Colorado’s judicial selection and retention process, which is based on merit and qualifications rather than partisan elections, stands as a model for protecting courts from political pressure and campaign finance influence. The organizations remind voters that factual information about judicial performance is readily available in the state's voter blue book and at KnowYourJudge.com.
