Allison Eid, named to the Colorado Supreme Court by Gov. Bill Owens Wednesday, brings an impressive resume to her new job as one of only seven arbiters of the state constitution.
Eid, 41, has served as the state’s solicitor general since last August, supervising all the state’s trial and appellate litigation for Attorney General John Suthers. While her service there has been brief, the solicitor general’s post is probably the most legally demanding in state government.
While praising Eid’s qualifications Wednesday, Owens branded the nominee, saying, “I did want to appoint a conservative and I’ve done so.”
Owens has made only one previous appointment to the high court, Justice Nathan B. Coats, and was obviously expected to name a judge who shares his legal philosophy. But we hope the governor’s ideological intent won’t preclude Eid from being the independent and influential voice on the bench that her background ably qualifies her to be.
Her husband, Troy Eid, formerly served ably as Owens’ chief counsel. Certainly the legal shoptalk must be interesting around the dinner table.
Eid has an illustrious background. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, she went on to graduate with honors from the University of Chicago Law School. She then clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Houston before serving as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Her Thomas connection will raise some eyebrows – after all, he has been perhaps the most conservative member of the Supreme Court. Eid also has a connection to another prominent Washington figure, former U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett. She worked with Bennett in 1987-88 as a speechwriter.
We expect Eid will make a strong contribution on the Colorado bench, where she succeeds Rebecca Love Kourlis who served an admirable tenure until her retirement. Kourlis, appointed in 1995 by Democratic Gov. Roy Romer, has been one of the more conservative members of the court and, with Coats, one of just two Republicans.
Eid’s legal acumen and fairness have won her praise from former colleagues, including faculty at the CU law school in Boulder where she has been a tenured professor. All state judges must ask voters to retain them after serving two years, meaning Eid will have until 2008 to demonstrate her competence and open-mindedness on the high court before seeking a full 10-year term. We wish her future success commensorate with her outstanding past achievements.
