Federal prosecutors are upset they were not asked to help select judicial candidates for the U.S. District Court in Colorado.
No assistant U.S. attorneys were asked to serve on a judicial selection panel assembled by Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, though defense attorneys and federal public defenders are represented.
The advisory panel is charged with reviewing and interviewing applicants and making recommendations to the senators, who then pass on the names to the White House. There are two vacancies on the court.
Thirty-one federal prosecutors signed and sent a letter to The Denver Post asking why the senators have excluded their viewpoint from the selection process.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Haried, who prosecutes white-collar crimes, said he and the other lawyers in his office are not trying to make a political statement about who gets selected. “One vote out of 10 isn’t going to control the process, and nobody here is interested in controlling the process,” Haried said. “We have the most experience of any group of lawyers in the state with the judges. We see them every day, month in and month out, and that is a valuable resource.”
Tara Trujillo, Udall’s spokeswoman, said both senators picked panelists from a diverse background and at least one lawyer, federal public defender Raymond Moore, has been a federal prosecutor.
“Panel members were not selected from any specific career area,” she said. “They were selected to bring knowledge of the law and a diverse background to advise the senators.”
Haried and the other 30 lawyers who signed the letter say it is early enough in the selection process to add a federal prosecutor to the panel.
Trujillo said that won’t happen, but the senators welcome any input the prosecutors have about the applicants. The names of lawyers who have applied to become federal judges, however, are not made public until they are nominated by the senators, making such input difficult.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
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Members of the Udall-Bennet bipartisan judicial advisory panel:
Co-chair Hal Haddon, partner at Denver’s Haddon, Morgan, Mueller, Jordan, Mackey and Foreman.
Co-chair Rebecca Love Kourlis, former Colorado Supreme Court justice and current head of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System in Denver.
Joseph Garcia, president of Colorado State University, Pueblo.
Dale Harris, counsel at Denver firm Davis, Graham & Stubbs.
Diane King, partner at Denver firm King & Greisen.
Michelle Lucero, vice president of employee relations at Centura Health.
Raymond Moore, federal public defender for the District of Colorado and Wyoming.
Lori Potter, attorney with Denver firm Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell.
Dan Reilly, founding member of the trial firm Reilly Pozner.
Ken Spann, vice president of Spann Ranches Inc.
