Federal and state judges gathered in the atrium of the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center Thursday night to recognize female and minority jurists among them, as well as enjoy a few drinks and hors d’oeuvres. The Center for Legal Inclusiveness held a Diverse Judges Reception to highlight six judges and reflect on efforts to bolster the diversity in the Colorado judiciary.
The honorees were:
• Judge Allison Eid of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart
• Magistrate Judge Kato Crews of the U.S. District Court of Colorado
• Judge Colleen Clark of Arapahoe County
• Judge Cynthia Mares of the 18th Judicial District
• Judge Roberto Ramírez of the 17th Judicial District
Many of the judges CLI recognized were recently appointed or promoted to their current spots in the judiciary. Eid, an 11-year veteran of the Colorado Supreme Court, was confirmed to the 10th Circuit late last year, and Hart, previously a law professor at the University of Colorado Law School, was Gov. John Hickenlooper’s pick to take Eid’s place as a justice.
Crews took the federal bench in August, having previously worked as an employment law and civil litigator at Hoffman Crews Nies Waggener & Foster. Mares was an associate judge at the Aurora Municipal Court before she ascended to the 18th Judicial District bench this year.
Clark, prior to serving as a state district judge, has served on the bench and as a prosecutor in a variety of jurisdictions around the state, including more rural areas like Eagle and Summit counties in addition to Adams and Arapahoe counties. Ramírez stands out not just for his work in the 17th Judicial District but also for his military background. He is a reserve Air Force Judge Advocate and has tried cases around the world as an Air Force federal prosecutor.
“Having a diverse bench matters because it improves the public confidence in judicial outcomes,” said CLI CEO Karen Hester in her opening remarks. “And let’s be honest, in our Pledge of Allegiance, we declare what? ‘With liberty and justice for all.’” Those words resonate more truly when the judiciary represents the community it serves, Hester said.
In a brief address to the attendees, Chief Justice Nathan Coats of the Colorado Supreme Court paraphrased Alexander Hamilton from the Federalist Papers to make a point about the importance of having a diverse population of judicial nominees. The pool of people with the “requisite skill with regard to the law” to serve as judges is already small, Hamilton once wrote, but the pool of those with the integrity as well as the skill to serve in the judiciary is even smaller.
While Hamilton wasn’t referring to judicial diversity, Coats said his idea underscores why a broad pool of judicial candidates helps the state consistently appoint qualified judges.
“The continued success of the judiciary in this jurisdiction is very much dependent on the willingness of the sufficient number of those with the requisite skill and the requisite integrity” to serve on the bench, Coats said. “And that is without regard to whatever that individual’s circumstances may be.”
— Doug Chartier