It was not until 1957 that Colorado had its first non-white judge on any level. Mayor William Nicholson appointed James Flanigan, the grandson of slaves, to the municipal court after serving eight years as Denver’s first black district attorney. Nine years later, Judge Flanagan became Colorado’s first African-American district court judge.
As of October 2018, 61 years after Flanagan’s appointment, out of the 181 District Court Judges in the state of Colorado, there was still only one black District Court judge: Judge William Robbins of Denver, and he had just announced his retirement. Out of the 29 appellate court judges, there was one African-American judge: Judge Karen Ashby, and she announced her retirement shortly after Robbins. The lack of judicial diversity extends to Hispanic-American, Native-American and Asian-American communities as well as women. The possibility of having zero black judges on the Colorado District Court and appellate courts was very real.
These demographic numbers are more than just an embarrassment to our bar association, to the legal profession and to the citizens of Colorado. To maintain a representative democracy, and a strong republic, all three branches of municipal, city, county, state and federal government must reflect the diversity of its citizens. In most democratic countries, the judicial branch is not autonomous from the other branches. Of all three branches of government, the people have the most direct and frequent contact with the judicial branch, making diversity an absolute necessity under the first, fifth, sixth, 14th and 15th amendments.
During my 50 years as a lawyer and judge, and as a citizen, I have witnessed firsthand the awful costs of racial and gender bias. After graduating from the University of Colorado Law School in 1970, Mike McKevitt hired me as a deputy district attorney in Denver. Like Flanigan, I was the only black deputy district attorney in the state of Colorado at that time. I was assigned to be a trial deputy in Judge Zita Weinshienk’s court, who was appointed to the bench in 1964 the only female judge in the state at the time. Being assigned to her court was a stroke of luck. Weinshienk, a graduate from Harvard Law School and member of the Jewish community, possessed a superior intellect and innate wisdom. Her standard of fairness and equal justice for all helped shape my own practice as a lawyer and judge.
When I became a chief trial deputy at age 27, I had the honor of serving in the district courtrooms of Flanigan and Judge Donald Pacheco, the first Hispanic-American district court judge, while Weinshienk continued her ascendency through the court system by becoming the first female state district court judge, and thereafter, the first woman U.S. District Court judge in Colorado. The Hon. Wiley Daniel recognized the immense responsibility bestowed upon him by President Clinton as the first black U.S. District Court judge. Wiley was a dear friend who never stopped reminding me and us that America would not be great without its diversity. The recent appointments by Gov. Jared Polis of Nikea Bland to the Denver District Court and Pax Multrie to the Denver Juvenile Court are evidence that Daniel’s work continues to make a difference.
As the first recipient of the Hon. Wiley Daniel Lifetime Achievement Award, I call on all of us to work together to assure that our judicial system reflects the diversity in our communities and to make sure that all branches of government draw upon the wealth of all of our collective experiences and wisdom.
— Judge Gary Jackson was awarded the inaugural Judge Wiley Daniel Lifetime Achievement Award by the Center for Legal Inclusiveness at its February 29, 2020 Ball for All Gala.