Colorado Court of Appeals

The Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, home of the Colorado Supreme Court and the Colorado Court of Appeals

The Colorado Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in Colorado. It was established in 1891, abolished in 1905, re-established in 1913, re-abolished in 1917 and established in its current form in 1970. It consists of 22 appointed judges who, after their initial appointment, are then subject to a retention election every eight years thereafter. Their terms end on the second Tuesday in January.

The court is divided into three-judge panels to preside over cases. The chief judge assigns the judges to different divisions and rotates their assignments. The court typically issues its decisions on Thursday mornings, with case announcements posted on the court's website usually by 8:00 a.m.

 

Colorado Court of Appeals
Court information
Judges:	22
Founded:	1891, 1970
Salary:	Associates: $212,535
Judicial selection
Method:	Assisted appointment
Term:	8 years

Jurisdiction

Established by Section 1 of Article VI of the Colorado Constitution, the mission of the Colorado Court of Appeals is to "provide the citizens of Colorado with clear, impartial, and timely resolutions of appealed orders and judgments as provided by law."

The Colorado Court of Appeals hears most of the direct appeals from the Colorado district courts, the Denver Probate Court and the Denver Juvenile Court. It also hears appeals from some of Colorado's administrative agencies. Any review of court of appeals' decisions is conducted by the Colorado Supreme Court.

Judges

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Gilbert Román	August 1, 2005 - Present	Bill Owens
Elizabeth Harris	July 1, 2015 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Craig Welling	January 16, 2017 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Lino Lipinsky de Orlov	January 9, 2019 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Matthew Grove	January 9, 2019 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Ted C. Tow	February 12, 2018 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Neeti Vasant Pawar	March 8, 2019 - Present	Jared Polis
Jaclyn Casey Brown	May 31, 2019 - Present	Jared Polis
Christina Gomez	February 27, 2020 - Present	Jared Polis
Rebecca Rankin Freyre	September 21, 2015 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Stephanie Dunn	November 23, 2012 - Present	John Hickenlooper
Terry Fox	September 1, 2010 - Present	Bill Ritter
Sueanna Johnson	February 13, 2020 - Present	Jared Polis
David Yun	March 2, 2020 - Present	Jared Polis
Melissa Meirink	January 14, 2025 - Present	Jared Polis
Jerry N. Jones	July 5, 2006 - Present	Bill Owens
Karl Schock	November 7, 2022 - Present	Jared Polis
Katharine Lum	November 16, 2022 - Present	Jared Polis
Grant Sullivan	January 1, 2024 - Present	Jared Polis
Pax Moultrie	January 1, 2024 - Present	Jared Polis
W. Eric Kuhn	July 7, 2021 - Present	Jared Polis
Timothy J. Schutz	January 1, 2022 - Present	Jared Polis

Publication of decisions

The court issues published and unpublished decisions. It releases its published decisions on alternate weeks and its unpublished decisions every week. Published decisions are made available on the court's website with their full text; the list of unpublished decisions is also made available on that website. An online form on the Court of Appeals' website allows users to request copies of unpublished decisions by email.

Judicial selection

Colorado Court of Appeals judges are appointed by the governor from a list of names compiled by a nominating commission. Initial terms last at least two years, after which judges must stand for retention in yes-no elections. Subsequent terms last eight years.

The court's chief judge is appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court to serve indefinitely.

See also: Assisted appointment

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must be:

• a qualified elector in Colorado
• licensed to practice law in Colorado for five years
• under the age of 72 (retirement by 72 is mandatory)

Elections

2020

See also: Colorado intermediate appellate court elections, 2020

The terms of four Colorado Court of Appeals justices expired on January 11, 2021. The four seats were up for retention election on November 3, 2020. A full term on the court is eight years.

Candidates and results

Welling's seat

Colorado Court of Appeals, Craig Welling's seat

Craig Welling was retained to the Colorado Court of Appeals on November 3, 2020 with 70.1% of the vote.

			Retention  Vote	%	Votes
		✔	Yes	70.1	1,851,221
			No	29.9	790,433
			Total Votes		2,641,654

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It has been certified. Source

Tow's seat

Colorado Court of Appeals, Ted Tow's seat

Ted C. Tow was retained to the Colorado Court of Appeals on November 3, 2020 with 70.8% of the vote.

			Retention  Vote	%	Votes
		✔	Yes	70.8	1,874,266
			No	29.2	773,266
			Total Votes		2,647,532

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It has been certified. Source

2018

See also: Colorado judicial elections, 2018

Judges with expiring terms

This is a list of the judges who had to stand for retention in 2018 in order to remain on the bench. Judges may choose not to stand for retention or may retire. In retention elections, a judge stands for a "yes" or "no" vote; no challengers may run in the elections.

■ John Daniel Dailey
■ Nancy Lichtenstein (did not file for retention)
■ David Richman
■ Elizabeth Harris
■ Rebecca Rankin Freyre

2016

Judges who faced retention

■ Karen M. Ashby
■ Michael Berger
■ Steve Bernard
■ Stephanie Erin Dunn
■ David Furman
■ Robert Hawthorne
■ Jerry N. Jones
■ Anthony Navarro
■ Gilbert Roman
■ Diana Terry

Election results

November 8 general election

Karen M. Ashby was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Ashby's seat election with 69.25% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Ashby's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Karen M. Ashby	69.25%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Michael Berger was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Berger's seat election with 68.91% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Berger's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Michael Berger	68.91%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Steve Bernard was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Bernard's seat election with 63.35% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Bernard's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Steve Bernard	63.35%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Stephanie Erin Dunn was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Dunn's seat election with 71.10% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Dunn's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Stephanie Erin Dunn	71.10%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

David Furman was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Furman's seat election with 70.45% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Furman's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
David Furman	70.45%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Robert Hawthorne was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Hawthorne's seat election with 70.63% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Hawthorne's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Robert Hawthorne	70.63%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Jerry N. Jones was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Jones' seat election with 60.87% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Jones' seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Jerry N. Jones	60.87%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Anthony Navarro was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Navarro's seat election with 65.52% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Navarro's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Anthony Navarro	65.52%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Gilbert Roman was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Roman's seat election with 71.04% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Roman's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Gilbert Roman	71.04%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

Diana Terry was retained in the Colorado Court of Appeals, Terry's seat election with 67.06% of the vote.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Terry's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Diana Terry	67.06%
Source: Colorado Secretary of State Official Certified Results

2014

Retention

Judge	Election Vote
LoebAlan Loeb	68.9% A
FoxTerry Fox	66.4% A

See also: Colorado judicial elections, 2012

2012

Candidate	Incumbent	Retention vote:	Retention Vote %
TaubmanDaniel Taubman   A	Yes	1,357,452	71.42%A
GrahamDennis Graham   A	Yes	1,336,261	69.89%A
MillerGale Miller   A	Yes	1,350,977	70.88%A
CaseboltJames Casebolt   A	Yes	1,391,604	72.64%A
WebbJohn Webb (Colorado)   A	Yes	1,359,521	71.63%A
BoorasLaurie Booras   A	Yes	1,395,803	72.19%A

See also: Colorado judicial elections, 2012

Ethics

The Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct sets forth ethical guidelines and principles for the conduct of judges and judicial candidates in Colorado. It consists of four overarching canons:

“

Canon 1: "A judge shall uphold and promote the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety." Canon 2: "A judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially, competently, and diligently." Canon 3: "A judge shall conduct the judge’s personal and extrajudicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict with the obligations of judicial office." Canon 4: "A judge or candidate for judicial office shall not engage in political or campaign activity that is inconsistent with the independence, integrity, or impartiality of the judiciary."

”

The full text of the Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct can be found here.

Removal of judges

Judges in Colorado may be removed in one of three ways:

• By recommendation of the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline to the Colorado Supreme Court, which may then suspend, retire, censure, discipline or remove a judge
• By impeachment by a majority vote of the Colorado House of Representatives and a conviction by a two-thirds vote of the members of the Colorado State Senate
• By recall election

State profile

Demographic data for Colorado
	Colorado	U.S.
Total population:	5,448,819	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	103,642	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	84.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	4%	12.6%
Asian:	2.9%	5.1%
Native American:	0.9%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	3.5%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	21.1%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.7%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	38.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,629	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.5%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Colorado. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Colorado

Colorado voted for the Democratic candidate in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, four are located in Colorado, accounting for 1.94 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Colorado had three Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.66 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Colorado coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Colorado
• United States congressional delegations from Colorado
• Public policy in Colorado
• Endorsers in Colorado
• Colorado fact checks
• More...

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Colorado Court of Appeals. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Colorado Court of Appeals - Google News

See also

Colorado	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in Colorado Colorado Court of Appeals Colorado Supreme Court	Elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Colorado	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

• Colorado Judicial Branch, "Court of Appeals"
• Colorado Judicial Branch, "Judges of the Court of Appeals"
• Rocky Mountain Appellate Blog
• Higher Courts blog

Footnotes

Colorado courts

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Federal courts:

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Colorado • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Colorado

State courts:

Colorado Supreme Court • Colorado Court of Appeals • Colorado District Courts • Colorado County Courts • Denver Probate Court • Denver Juvenile Court • Colorado Municipal Courts • Colorado Water Courts

State resources:

Courts in Colorado • Colorado judicial elections • Judicial selection in Colorado