Colorado's chief justice requests 28 new judges, warns of widespread courtroom disruption

The state's judicial branch is asking lawmakers to establish 28 new judgeships over two years to help ease caseloads and combat burnout among existing judges, Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez told an audience of attorneys on Thursday. Speaking at the Colorado Bar Association's headquarters, Márquez also provided details about the rash of disruptions caused by malicious actors who enter judges' virtual courtrooms.

She connected those experiences, as well as threats to judges and crowded dockets, to the 40% turnover on the bench in the past six years. "My long-term fear for this, as the head of the branch, is that in addition to all of this turnover, the jobs are becoming so challenging that nobody is going to want to do this work anymore," she said. "That makes me fear for the long-term health of the judicial branch and our legal system.



" On Nov. 1, the Judicial Department submitted its budget request to the legislature, seeking a $27.6 million increase for a total of $813.

2 million in the next fiscal year. Márquez, who took over as chief justice in July, wrote that the Colorado Supreme Court's top priority is ensuring courts are adequately staffed. Relying on a series of workload studies for the district courts, county courts and Court of Appeals, the department is seeking standalone legislation to establish 28 additional judgeships and 76 associated support staff.

Over two years, the branch envisions adding 18 district court judges, seven county court judges and an additional panel for the Court of Appeals — which hears cases in three-judge cohorts among its 22 members and roster of semi-retired senior judges. Among the proposed influx, there would be a second judge added to Denver's standalone probate court, four district judges added to the Fourth Judicial District of El Paso and Teller counties, and a second judge added to the La Plata County Court, which has not received an additional judge since 1978. A map depicting the county courts and district courts where the Judicial Department is seeking to add judges.

Source: Colorado Judicial Department FY2025-26 budget request "Ultimately the strain of extreme workloads without additional resources seriously compromises the well-being of judges and sustainability and timeliness of the services the courts provide," the judicial branch wrote in its budget request, noting many types of district court cases now take longer to resolve than before the pandemic. The document listed several factors contributing to greater judicial workloads, including: • An increase in complex cases • A rise in the number of child neglect hearings • More body-worn camera footage to sift through as a result of new requirements for law enforcement • Increased need for language interpretation • Additional time judges must spend to facilitate virtual proceedings In addition to "critically low staffing levels," resulting in delays and inconvenience to litigants, the judicial department warned that increasing hostility and an inability for judges to disengage from their workloads is reducing the pool of people willing to take the job. "We have heard directly from judges stepping down early in their judicial career that they are emotionally and physically drained, and the job simply is not worth the toll it is taking," the department wrote.

"Data reflects that applicants for judgeships statewide are declining. In some larger jurisdictions, we are seeing one-third of the number of applications we have seen historically." Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Monica M.

M{span}á{/span}rquez talks to law students before the start of oral arguments at the Wolf Law building at the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of the Courts in the Community event on Thursday, Oct. 24. During her appearance on Thursday, Márquez elaborated that a "cat and mouse situation" is unfolding in which people log on to judges' virtual Webex courtrooms to display pornographic or violent content and to interject racist statements.

The department has estimated such disruptions can happen up to 50 times a day across the state. "It’s caused a lot of trauma to our litigants, our court staff, our judicial officers," she said. "In Denver, there were some disruptors who were posing as Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges.

So, people were logging in as 'Justice William Hood' and, of course, the judge thinks they need to let Justice Hood in the room. And it turns out it’s not Justice Hood." The Judicial Department has received emergency supplemental funding to procure what Márquez called a "true, actual digital court platform.

" She said the judicial branch turned to Webex quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was "never designed to be a virtual courtroom and it has all kinds of limitations that are revealing themselves." Márquez estimated it would take another 12-18 months to roll out the new platform. In response to a question, she said chief judges in the various judicial districts will need to work with their county commissioners to obtain space for any additional judges, as it is not a state responsibility.

"We have, for example, in Mesa County a judge right now who doesn’t actually have a courtroom and does entirely a virtual docket," Márquez said. "We realize we’re entering a really tight budget environment. We will advocate for these resources and see where the conversations go.

" Justice Monica M. Márquez listens during oral arguments at the Colorado Supreme Court's "Courts in the Community" event on May 9, 2024 at Central High School in Pueblo. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette) Márquez briefly touched on remarks she made last week at a judicial awards dinner, in which she spoke in unusually personal terms about the her high-profile vote to find presidential candidate Donald Trump constitutionally disqualified from appearing on Colorado's ballot in December 2023.

The decision resulted in threats to members of the Supreme Court and at least one justice experience a "swatting" call at her home. "My reason for sharing it in that context was not to draw attention to me or the case specifically, but more to draw attention to the concerns for all of our judges and the fact that what our court experienced in that wake of that decision, sadly, is not that unusual anymore," Márquez said. "And our trial court judges all around the state are experiencing versions of this on a routine basis.

" On Election Day, voters retained Márquez and two other justices to 10-year terms. Although there was some opposition to the retention of all three, an outside group founded by a Trump ally singled out Márquez for her vote in the disqualification case, running an ad against her retention. "At the end of the day, there’s not a lot we can do," Márquez said, as judges in Colorado cannot generally advocate for themselves in retention elections.

"Somebody asked what sort of opposition efforts we put together. I was sort of incredulous. Like, none.

Nothing." Instead, she said judges in that situation can only rely upon their reputations, as do lawyers in general throughout their careers. "We really are, as judges when we go through that retention process, sitting there holding our breath because there’s not a lot we can do.

And your reputation is what will carry through all of that," Márquez added..