Proposed term limits for Colorado’s appellate judges and justices were decried Thursday by the two candidates for state attorney general.
In appearances before the Denver Rotary Club, incumbent Republican Attorney General John Suthers and Fern O’Brien, his Democratic opponent, said limiting Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges to a maximum of 10 years is a bad idea.
“I have, through the years, had some concerns about judicial activism,” Suthers said. “But for the life of me I can’t understand why the proposal to term-limit judges … solves problems.
O’Brien said that top-notch lawyers, who now seek judicial positions, probably wouldn’t apply for judgeships if terms were limited.John Andrews, chairman of Limit the Judges, the group pushing Amendment 40, called O’Brien’s claim that there will be a shortage of good candidates “laughable.”
“The selection pool is huge and high- quality,” Andrews said. “This is an elitist argument.”
He claimed both Suthers and O’Brien are members of the political establishment who have never favored term limits.
