4 federal judges in Colorado advocate for Congress to create new judgeships

Four federal judges from Colorado were among the hundreds of signatories this month to a letter urging Congress to pass legislation creating 66 new judgeships in trial courts across multiple presidential administrations — starting next year with President-elect Donald Trump. This summer, the U.S.

Senate unanimously passed the JUDGES Act , which would increase the size of federal district courts in two-year increments. Colorado, which has had seven active district judges for 40 years, would receive an eighth judge for the president to appoint in 2029. In 2033, the court would expand to nine judges.



The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has not yet voted on the legislation.

Last week, Bloomberg Law reported that the Federal Judges Association sent a letter to House leadership endorsing the JUDGES Act and related legislation. More than 300 federal trial and appellate judges signed on. "The few additional new judgeships per year, over the next 10 years, as proposed by the legislation, would be a very small increase in the number of judicial vacancies that naturally occur during any particular presidential term," read the letter, dated one week after Election Day.

"It is the litigants and residents of the Nation who suffer when there is a delay in deciding cases." The four members of Colorado's federal bench who signed the letter are all semi-retired senior judges: • Marcia S. Krieger, a George W.

Bush appointee who no longer carries a caseload • Robert E. Blackburn, a Bush appointee • William J. Martínez, a Barack Obama appointee • Raymond P.

Moore, an Obama appointee The Alfred A. Arraj U.S.

Courthouse in downtown Denver. {span}(Photo courtesy of United States District Court — Colorado){/span} {div} {/div} In addition, the letter included the signatures of five judges on the U.S.

Court of Appeals from the 10th Circuit, which hears federal appeals arising from Colorado and five neighboring states: • Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes of Oklahoma, a Bush appointee • Senior Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr.

of New Mexico, an appointee of George H.W. Bush • Judge Gregory A.

Phillips of Wyoming, an Obama appointee • Judge Carolyn B. McHugh of Utah, an Obama appointee • Judge Nancy L. Moritz of Kansas, an Obama appointee Colorado Politics invited members of both courts to elaborate on their decision to sign or not sign the letter.

The clerks did not immediately respond to the invitation. The executive director of the Federal Judges Association, Jennifer Brinkley, said the letter was circulated to all active members of the organization, with a deadline to sign. She did not immediately clarify whether judges had the opportunity to sign before the results of the presidential election were known.

John P. Collins Jr., an associate professor at The George Washington University's law school, said he would not "read anything into" the timing of the letter or which judges chose to sign it.

The addition of judges in two-year increments through 2035 "reflects an understanding that both parties will likely get to appoint some of the new judges," he said. "And the judiciary has been asking for these new judgeships for the better part of a decade." Collins added that the tradition of " blue slips " remains intact, which allow senators to withhold their consent to district judge nominees from their home states.

The incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has indicated he plans to maintain blue slips in the next Congress, which would provide leverage to Democrats in the selection of their states' judicial nominees. During the past four years, President Joe Biden has appointed five of the seven members of Colorado's federal trial court and two of the 12 active judges on the 10th Circuit. None of his appointees from those courts signed the Nov.

12 letter, nor did any of Trump's three appointees from his previous term..