LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Colorado Court of Appeals judges Bob Russel, Sean Connelly and Rich Gabriel have been added to Law Week Colorado‘s “Justice Tracker,” a short list of potential candidates for the Colorado Supreme Court.
“The Court of Appeals has not been the fertile ground you’d think it would be to produce Supreme Court candidates,” said Bob Miller, managing partner of the Denver office of Perkins Coie. “Somehow I think this time it could be. My gut tells me that’s the first place I would look for a likely candidate. We have, I believe, a really good Court of Appeals — younger, very capable, energetic — and I think [there are] people who are looking to move up.”
A total 20 Supreme Court justices have been appointed since Colorado adopted the merit selection system in 1966. Just one of those appointees was elevated from the Court of Appeals (though the first two justices were appointed before the intermediate appellate court was reinstated in 1970).
Miller, U.S. attorney for Colorado in the 1980s and former member of the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, said that he sees age 60 as a likely cut-off age for judges looking to apply for the high court.
That’s borne out by Law Week research, which shows that no one age 60 or older has been appointed to the high court since merit selection began. The tendency of past governors to appoint younger justices is likely tied to the mandatory retirement age of 72 for judges and justices.
Of the 22 judges on the Court of Appeals, 11 will be younger than 60 when Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey steps down on Nov. 30. Miller said many of those judges would be well-qualified and possibly interested in a seat on the high court. He mentioned three in particular that have not yet been Supreme Court finalists: Bob Russel, Rich Gabriel and Sean Connelly.
Russel, 54, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Bill Owens, has been on the court since January 2004. He was previously head of the appellate division at the office of the U.S. Attorney for Colorado, and before that was assistant solicitor general in charge of the appellate division at Colorado Attorney General’s office. He also teaches advanced legal writing at the University of Colorado Law School.
Connelly, 51, was appointed by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in 2008. He was previously a high-profile litigator and name partner at Reilly Pozner & Connelly, and received praise for his role as lead appellate prosecutor in the cases of Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Gabriel, 48, also a 2008 Ritter appointee, was head of Holme Roberts & Owen’s intellectual property practice group. He became nationally known for being lead national counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America. Gabriel took to trial the first of RIAA’s unauthorized music downloading lawsuits, winning a $222,000 verdict.
Russel, Connelly and Gabriel did not immediately respond to Law Week inquiries as to whether they will apply for the Supreme Court position.
Besides these three Court of Appeals judges, Miller said John Dailey, 58, and Russell Carparelli, 61 — both former finalists for the high court — are also well-qualified and possibly interested in being a Supreme Court justice. Neither has responded to Law Week inquiries.
If you’ve heard of someone who is going to apply for the spot on the Supreme Court, or can suggest a name for Law Week to investigate, drop us a line a newsroom@lawweekcolorado.com — just put “Justice Tracker” in the subject line.
