A number of names emerged Tuesday as possible successors to retiring Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Kourlis, including former Arapahoe District Attorney Jim Peters, who said he is considering the position.
“I think it is very appealing from both a professional perspective and an opportunity to do something that is very meaningful,” said Peters, 54.
Cynthia Coffman, former chief counsel to Gov. Bill Owens, said that the types of people that Owens will look at are Colorado Court of Appeals Judge John Dailey, who once headed the appellate section of the Colorado attorney general’s office, and Allison Eid, Colorado solicitor general. Eid is a tenured professor at the University of Colorado and once clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, said Coffman, who works for Attorney General John Suthers.
“I would expect the governor will be given a strong list of candidates” who will fit Owens’ criteria that they “apply the law as written and not legislate from the bench,” Coffman said. Suthers ruled himself out Tuesday.
Legal observers said Tuesday that they expect up to 60 people to apply to the bipartisan, 15- member Supreme Court Nominating Commission. The commission will interview the candidates and then submit to Owens the names of the three candidates considered to be the best qualified. Owens will then make his pick.
Two law professors, Christopher Mueller from the University of Colorado and Karen Steinhauser from the University of Denver, said that there are many qualified lawyers who fit Owens’ requirement that the next justice be a “strict constructionist – someone who doesn’t try to read into the law and constitution more than there is.”
Legal analysts believe that the next justice will come from either the ranks of the state’s prosecutors, the chief judges in the state’s judicial districts or the Court of Appeals.
Among the former prosecutors whose names surfaced Tuesday are Peters; Dave Thomas, former Jefferson County district attorney; and Stu VanMeveren, a former Fort Collins district attorney. Thomas is now executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council.
In recent years, Owens has received some criticism for appointing a number of prosecutors as judges. His only Supreme Court appointment so far has been Ben Coats, who headed the appellate division of the Denver district attorney’s office.
Other names that came up Tuesday were those of Jefferson County District Judges Christopher Munch, Peter Weir and Lee Anderson.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
