Colorado

Colorado Supreme Court
Judicial Selection Method: Missouri Plan (No Role for Bar)
7 Justices
2 year minimum initial terms, 10 year full terms
State High Court & Judicial Nominating Commission Composition & Terms of Judicial Nominating Commission Judicial Selection Process Legal Authority
16 members*:

    • 7 lawyers
      • 1 per congressional district appointed by majority action of Governor, Attorney General, and Chief Justice
    • 8 non-lawyers
      • 1 per congressional district appointed by Governor (7)
      • 1 additional citizen not admitted to the practice of law
    • Chief Justice is ex officio nonvoting chair

* No more than half plus one (excluding the Chief Justice) may be from the same political party

Terms: 6 years (staggered)

General

  • Commission submits a list of three nominees from which the Governor must choose one.
  • At the end of a Justice’s term, the Justice will be subject to a statewide retention election and will continue for another term if the Justice is retained.

Interim Vacancies

  • A vacancy in any judicial office in any court of record shall be filled by appointment of the Governor, from a list of three nominees for the supreme court and any intermediate appellate court, and from a list of two or three nominees for all other courts of record, such list to be certified to him by the supreme court nominating commission for a vacancy in the supreme court or a vacancy in any intermediate appellate court, and by the judicial district nominating commission for a vacancy in any other court in that district. In case of more than one vacancy in any such court, the list shall contain not less than two more nominees than there are vacancies to be filled.

Percentage of Lawyers on the Nominating Commission

Who Selects the Nominating Commissioners?
  • Judicial Election

    Judges are elected by popular vote.
  • Democratic Appointment

    Judges are appointed directly by a democratic body, or appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of some democratic body.