Gregory Hobbs
Prior offices
Colorado Supreme Court
Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr. was an associate justice of the seven member Colorado Supreme Court. He was first appointed to the court in the state's assisted appointment method of judicial selection by Governor Roy Romer on April 18, 1996. Justice Hobbs was successfully retained in 2000 and in 2008. He retired from the court on August 31, 2015.[1]
Hobbs died on November 30, 2021, of a pulmonary embolism.[2]
Education
Hobbs earned his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Notre Dame in 1966. In 1971, he received his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.[3]
Career
Hobbs practiced law since 1986 in a variety of positions. Hobbs worked for multiple private firms, and was a partner at Davis, Graham & Stubbs and senior partner at Hobbs, Trout & Raley P.C. during his time in private practice. Hobbs has also served as the first assistant attorney in the Natural Resources Section for the State of Colorado and as an enforcement attorney for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He also taught sixth grade in New York City and served in the Peace Corps.[3]
Awards and associations
Associations
- Former editor, California Law Review, Supreme Court Law
- Former member, Order of the Coif
- Former member, American Bar Association
- Former member, Colorado Bar Association
- Former member, Denver Bar Associations
- Former member, American Bar Foundation
- Former member, Colorado Bar Foundation
- Former member, Colorado Authors League
- Former vice-president, Colorado Foundation for Water Education
- Former co-convenor, Dividing the Waters
- Former adjunct professor, University of Denver, Environmental Law, Master's Program in Environmental Policy and Management
- Former vice chair, Colorado Air Quality Commission
- Former member, Regional Air Quality Council
- Former member, Metropolitan Transportation Development Commission
- Former member, Governor's Water Roundtable
- Former member, Governor's Transportation Roundtable
- Former member, Wilderness Air Quality Related Values Task Force[3]
Elections
2008
Colorado Supreme Court, Associate Justice
2008 General election results
|
| Candidates
|
Votes
|
Percent
|
Gregory Hobbs 
|
1,282,348
|
72.4%
|
| Against retention
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489,429
|
27.6%
|
Performance Evaluations
The Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation voted unanimously to recommend Hobbs for retention. The COJPE reviews the answers of attorneys and District Judges and asked a variety of questions to determine the Judge's performance. The score is rated on a 4 point scale similar to school grades. Since 1990, which was the first election year after the statutory creation of judicial performance commissions and the use of performance evaluations, all Colorado Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges standing for retention have received do retain recommendations.[4] Until 2010 no additional information on judicial performance has been made available to the public.
| Question classification
|
Attorney score
|
District Judge score
|
Combined average
|
| Impartiality
|
3.7
|
3.7
|
3.7
|
| Clear opinions
|
3.4
|
3.5
|
3.45
|
| Adequate explanation of opinion
|
3.5
|
3.6
|
3.55
|
| Timely response
|
3.5
|
3.6
|
3.55
|
| Response without criticism
|
3.8
|
3.8
|
3.8
|
| Response based on law
|
3.6
|
3.6
|
3.6
|
| Not ruling on extra issues
|
3.6
|
3.7
|
3.65
|
| Respect towards all parties
|
3.8
|
3.9
|
3.85
|
| No ex parte communications
|
3.9
|
3.9
|
3.9
|
| Overall
|
3.64
|
3.7
|
3.67
|
[5]
Political Affiliations
Judge Gregory Hobbs was listed as "nonpartisan" because Colorado holds retention elections; no campaign reports have been filed for 2008.[6]
|
Notable rulings of Gregory Hobbs
|
On criminal justice
- In a 4-3 decision, Justice Hobbs concurred in the majority opinion, which concluded that a police officer's search of the defendant and his vehicle, which resulted in the discovery of marijuana and cocaine, was unconstitutional because the officer's stop was predicated only on the belief that the tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the defendant's-driver's rear-view mirror unlawfully obstructed the defendant-driver's vision.
- People v. Bradshaw (2007)
- In a 4-3 decision, Justice Hobbs concurred in the majority opinion, written by Justice Martinez, which concluded that the defendant's confession to sexual assault should not be admitted as evidence against him because the defendant indicated that he had a desire to speak with an attorney prior to making the confession.
- People v. Humphrey (2006)
- In a 5-2 decision, Justice Hobbs concurred in the majority opinion, written by Justice Martinez that in a first-degree murder case, the defendant's confession to stabbing the victim was not made voluntarily, and therefore was not admissible against him at trial, where, even though the defendant waived her Miranda rights, the defendant's confession was made under "psychological coercion" and "emotional vulnerability" because the questioning officers informed the defendant that the victim had just died from the stabbing wounds; and that the "persistent questioning of the defendant after her emotional breakdown was psychologically coercive."
- Danielson v. Dennis (2005)
- In this parolee disenfranchisement case, plaintiff Danielson brought suit against defendant in her capacity as Colorado Secretary of State alleging that a Colorado statute stating that no person "serving a sentence of parole shall be eligible to register to vote or vote in any election" was in conflict with the Colorado Constitution, Article VII, section 10.
Justice Hobbs wrote the opinion of the court, which ruled that the statute wasn't in conflict with the state Constitution and affirmed the trial court's dismissal, stating: "We hold that the General Assembly did not violate article VII, section 10 of the Colorado Constitution by enacting a law that prevents a person who has been convicted of a felony and is serving a sentence of parole from voting or registering to vote. A person who is serving a sentence of parole has not served his or her full term of imprisonment within the meaning of this constitutional provision."
On elections law
- In the Matter of the TITLE, BALLOT TITLE AND SUBMISSION CLAUSE, FOR 2007-2008, #17 (2007)
- Hobbs authored the majority opinion which struck down a voter-proposed ballot measure that would have created an environmental conservation agency with a mission of protecting land, wildlife, water, and public resources by resolving conflicts between "economic interests" and "public ownership and values" in favor of the latter. The Majority held that the inclusion of the mission and the creation of the agency constituted two separate subjects, and thus that the initiative violated [Colorado's single subject rule].
On illegal immigration
- In the Matter of the Title and Ballot Title and Submission Clause for 2005-2006 #55 (2006)
- In a bitterly disputed 4-2 decision, Justice Hobbs concurred in the majority opinion, written by Justice Alex J. Martinez which struck down a citizen-sponsored ballot measure that, if passed, would have prohibited Colorado from providing non-emergency government services to illegal immigrants. The Majority characterized the measure as violative of the Colorado's single subject rule because it contained "at least two subjects," that it viewed as "unrelated:" "decreasing taxpayer expenditures" and "restricting unrelated administrative services."
- In re Proposed Initiative for 1999-2000 #258(A) (2006)
- In a voter-driven ballot measure that, if successful, would have required "English Language Education in Public Schools," Justice Hobbs writing for the majority, recognized the additional, unstated purposes present in the amendment of constraining school boards' traditional power to require bilingual education in public schools. It also found, however, that this effect was not a subject separate from the initiative's central theme of requiring English language instruction. Rather, the purpose of constraining school boards' traditional powers was “a logical incident of adopting structured English immersion.” Therefore, the majority opinion, via Justice Hobbs, found the initiative did not violate the single subject requirement.
On regulation
- Raleigh v. Performance Plumbing (2006)
- Justice Hobbs wrote the opinion of the court which affirmed the appellate court ruling and held that an employer wasn't responsible for the damages caused by an employee when not acting within the scope of his employment.
- In a bitterly divided 4-3 decision, Justice Hobbs provided the deciding vote when he concurred in the Majority opinion in which the Court adopted the "reverse piercing of the corporate veil" doctrine. This doctrine, previously unrecognized in Colorado, allows a plaintiff to recover against a corporation for the debts/liability of one of its shareholders (as opposed to the traditional "piercing of the corporate veil" doctrine, which allows a plaintiff to recover against a shareholder for debts/liabilities of a corporation in which the shareholder owned shares).
- Flood v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, LLC (2008)
- In a bitterly divided 4-3 decision, Justice Hobbs wrote the majority opinion in a debt collection case, which created a new standard of law to apply to debt collection cases: the least sophisticated consumer standard. Under the standard, the majority noted that correspondence from creditors from debtors will by judged as to whether it sufficiently conveys requisite notices and other disclaimers so that the "least sophisticated" of consumers would understand it. Pursuant, the Majority found that the Creditor violated that standard in this case by "burying" disclosures in "fine print," and by communicating two different deadlines: a 30 day deadline to dispute the debt, and a 39 day deadline to take advantage of the settlement offer.
On property rights
- Droste v. Board of County Commissioners the County of Pitkin, Colorado (2007)
- Hobbs authored the majority opinion, which concluded that because a county was justified in implementing a complete moratorium on the development of property in that county, so that the impact of development could be studied, even though the county did not specify when the moratorium would end, and even though Colorado law, specially the Land Use Enabling Act only provided for a maximum moratorium of six months.
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Political ideology
- See also: Political ideology of State Supreme Court Justices
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Hobbs received a campaign finance score of -0.8, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.29 that justices received in Colorado.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[7]
See also
External links
- ↑ Law Week Colorado, "Justice Gregory Hobbs To Retire From Supreme Court This Year," March 19, 2015
- ↑ Colorado Politics, "Former Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs dies at 76," December 1, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Colorado State Judicial Branch, "Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr.," accessed August 22, 2014
- ↑ Email correspondence with Jane B. Howell, Executive Director of the CCJPE, Aug 27, 2010
- ↑ Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation, "Review of Justice Hobbs"
- ↑ Follow The Money, "Colorado 2008"
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
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| Current judges | Maria Berkenkotter, Brian Boatright, Richard Gabriel, Melissa Hart, William W. Hood, Monica Márquez, Carlos Armando Samour Jr. |
| Former judges | Michael Bender, Nathan Coats, Gregory Hobbs, Rebecca Kourlis, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice |
