U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar broke with some prominent Democrats and members of Colorado’s law-enforcement community Thursday in announcing his opposition to the nomination of federal prosecutor Philip Brimmer for a federal judgeship.
President Bush nominated Brimmer along with Christine Arguello and Gregory Goldberg, two lawyers Salazar says he will support.
Only four U.S. District Court judges are carrying full caseloads in Denver and two are in semi-retirement. There are three vacancies.
Brimmer, a Republican whose name was submitted by Sen. Wayne Allard, is well-respected by Democrats and Republicans in the law-enforcement community. He served as Bill Ritter’s chief deputy when Ritter was Denver district attorney. Ritter and current Denver DA Mitch Morrissey submitted recommendations to the White House.
Morrissey said he was disappointed to learn Salazar won’t support Brimmer.
“Phil is an extremely competent person, and he has one of the best senses of humor I have ever seen, and he will have a great judicial temperament on the federal bench,” Morrissey said. “You do not run across attorneys who have the trial skills and legal skills that Phil Brimmer possesses.”
Brimmer’s current boss, a Republican, agreed.
“Phil Brimmer is one of Colorado’s finest attorneys, and I fully support his nomination,” said Colorado’s U.S. attorney, Troy Eid.
Salazar said his decision, which could go a long way toward killing the nomination in the Democrat-controlled Senate, was based solely on Brimmer’s failure to win the support of a judicial nominating panel created by Salazar.
That panel suggested Boulder District Judge Lael Montgomery instead. Bush did not choose Montgomery, who is a former Boulder County judge and deputy district attorney.
“It is my hope that Sen. Salazar will keep an open mind as we work to prevent the disaster our courts will face if these vacancies are not filled soon,” Allard said in a statement.
Brimmer, a graduate of Harvard and the Yale Law School, heads the U.S. attorney’s office special prosecutions section, and most recently tried the federal death-penalty case of Rudy Sablan. Sablan was convicted in a gory prison-cell murder at the U.S. Penitentiary in Florence, but the jury decided against the death penalty.
Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor had written a letter in support of Brimmer but was aware that Salazar intended to rely on his nominating panel.
“Sen. Salazar is pretty clear about the process and we understand that and we respect his concerns and the process that he wanted to see followed,” Dreyer said.
“Gov. Ritter did recommend Mr. Brimmer and is pleased that the nomination has come forward.”
Arguello, a Democrat and Harvard law graduate, is a former Salazar deputy from the Colorado attorney general’s office and now the managing senior associate counsel at the University of Colorado.
Goldberg, a Republican and Columbia law graduate, is also a former federal prosecutor, now working at the firm Holland and Hart.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia who follows the judicial selection process closely, said it’s possible Salazar’s opposition to Brimmer could stall the nominations of all three candidates.
But Tobias also said the Senate is probably aware that Colorado has a judicial vacancy emergency and may try to install at least two judges.
“It may be that Arguello and Goldberg go through and Brimmer might not,” Tobias said. “I think that Salazar is likely to carry a lot of weight with the Democrats, and if he is not on board or opposed to the third person, then why should Democrats move that third person? It might come unraveled completely.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
