LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court voted Wednesday to name Michael L. Bender to succeed Mary Mullarkey as chief justice.
“I am pleased and honored to be selected by my colleagues to serve in this capacity,” Bender said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing the important initiatives Chief Justice Mullarkey undertook in her remarkable career and working with the other branches of state government to ensure our courts are prepared to face the challenges of the future.”
His appointment will be effective on Dec. 1, the first full day following Mullarkey’s retirement. Mullarkey is Colorado’s longest-serving chief justice, having been appointed to the post in August 1998.
Bender was appointed to Colorado’s top court in 1997. Before that, he had been in private practice for nearly 20 years.
He was president and shareholder, Michael L. Bender, P.C., 1993-1997; in practice with Bender & Treece, P.C., 1983-1993; and with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles, 1979-1980. Before that, he was division chief, Denver Public Defender, 1977-1978; supervising attorney, Jefferson County Public Defender, 1975-1977; associate regional attorney, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Denver, 1974-1975; and deputy state public defender, 1968-1971.
Bender’s tenure as chief justice, at most, will be only a third of Mullarkey’s. On Jan. 7, 2014, he will be 72 — the constitutionally required retirement age.
Bender, like Mullarkey, is considered a member of the court’s liberal wing. He and fellow justices Alex Martinez and Nancy Rice earlier this month survived an effort by a political group, Clear The Bench Colorado, to oust them. The effort failed, but citizens in some rural counties voted to reject one or more of the three justices.
Bender is the author of some of the high court’s most controversial recent opinions. In November 2008, he wrote the opinion in the 4-3 Barber v. Ritter decision, which held that the transfer of special cash funds to the state general tax fund is not subject to voter approval under the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR. This has been criticized by conservatives as giving the state legislature free rein to circumvent TABOR by increasing fees instead of increasing taxes.
Bender also wrote the October 2009 opinion in Lobato v. Colorado, another 4-3 decision, which revived a lawsuit that alleges the state’s current funding scheme for public education violates the constitutional requirement that funding be “thorough and uniform.” If the lawsuit is successful, the state could be held liable for an additional $2.9 billion a year for public schools. Republican Attorney General John Suthers publicly came out against the decision, which he said “is not good news for the Colorado taxpayer.”
In a decision last month that gained national attention, Bender authored the opinion in Montes-Rodriguez v. Colorado, which held that a person’s use of another’s social security number is not criminal impersonation. The court split 4-3 on the decision.
The full text of a press release is published below.
Justice Michael L. Bender named Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice
DENVER – Justice Michael L. Bender was named as Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday. Justice Bender’s fellow justices named him to head the court, effective Dec. 1, 2010.
Justice Bender succeeds Chief Justice Mullarkey, who announced her retirement in May, and whose last day on the bench will be Nov. 30, 2010. Chief Justice Mullarkey joined the Court on June 29, 1987, and was named Chief Justice on Aug. 3, 1998
“I am pleased and honored to be selected by my colleagues to serve in this capacity,” said Justice Bender. “I look forward to continuing the important initiatives Chief Justice Mullarkey undertook in her remarkable career and working with the other branches of state government to ensure our courts are prepared to face the challenges of the future.”
Justice Bender joined the court in January 1997. He was in private practice from 1979 to 1997. He also served in public defender offices in Denver, Jefferson County and for the State of Colorado and also worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1964 and his JD from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1967. Justice Bender is married to Helen H. Hand, Ph.D., and they have five children and five grandchildren.
“Justice Bender has been a great colleague and valued member of the Court,” Chief Justice Mullarkey said. “I am confident Justice Bender will serve Colorado well in his new role.”
Justice Bender is the 44th member of the Court to be named Chief Justice since Colorado’s statehood in 1876.
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[...] remarked in the Law Week article covering the announcement (”Bender Will Be New Colo. Supreme Court Chief Justice“), Bender, like Mullarkey, is considered a member of the court’s liberal wing. He and [...]