Judiciary initiative on ballot

Measure to limit some judges to three terms gets approval

Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, August 11, 2006

The Colorado Secretary of State's Office has given the green light to a November ballot initiative that would limit the terms of certain state judges.

The initiative campaign, led by John Andrews, former state Senate president, and three Republican state lawmakers, will launch today with a press conference announcing endorsements from three lawyers and a prosecutor.

They face stiff opposition from a coalition including Attorney General John Suthers, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Judicial Institute, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Denver District Attorney Mitchell Morrissey.

Andrews said he expects each side to spend about $1 million to publicize their arguments.

Andrews's group, Limit the Judges, submitted almost 110,000 signatures Monday to the secretary of state for the proposed state constitutional amendment. After analyzing five percent of those signatures, the agency concluded there were enough to meet the required 67,829 signatures to make the ballot.

The judge-term-limit campaign got a late start because of court challenges. Supporters began raising money in June. They paid a Colorado Springs company almost $200,000 to collect the signatures, records show.

The measure would limit how many terms state Supreme Court and state appeals court judges could serve. After each four-year term, those judges would stand for retention in elections. Judges could not serve more than three terms.

Currently, state law allows Supreme Court judges to keep office for 10 years and appeals court judges eight years before facing retention. They can serve unlimited additional terms until retirement age.

Andrews said the measure, which will appear on the November ballot as Amendment 40, is necessary to address "widespread concern among Coloradans that our courts are out of control."

"Our judges too often seek to rewrite the law instead of interpreting it," he said. "Term limits provide a check against such abuse of power."

Opponents said the measure would devastate the court system and kick off most state judges because it applies to those currently on the bench.

"Colorado courts already are accountable to the law and the constitution," Suthers said. "They shouldn't be held accountable to politicians and campaigns."

The secretary of state will approve or disqualify five other ballot measures in the next four weeks. Between measures submitted to the ballot by the legislature and citizen initiatives, voters could decide as many as 15 issues.

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361