President Barack Obama has nominated Judge R. Brooke Jackson for a spot on the federal bench in Denver.
Jackson is chief judge for the 1st Judicial District, encompassing Jefferson and Gilpin counties.
Jackson was recommended to the White House by Democratic Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet in July 2009.
“In his time as Chief Judge of the First Judicial District of Colorado, Judge Jackson has shown to be a thoughtful jurist, one that I believe will serve Colorado and the country well on the federal bench,” Bennet said in a joint statement with Udall. “Brooke’s record and qualifications meet the standard on which nominees should be judged, and he should be confirmed, quickly and without delay.”
The U.S. District Court in Denver has five active judges, and two vacancies have existed for more than two years.
The Administrative Office of the Courts has designated the court a “judicial emergency court” because the two vacancies have existed for more than two years and judges carry 593 cases each. Any District Court exceeding 430 cases per judge is considered in need of emergency judicial assistance.
Obama has also nominated Denver attorney William J. Martinez to the bench, but his confirmation has been tied up in the Senate Judiciary Committee for months over politics.
Jackson was appointed to the court in Jefferson County in 1998. Before he took the bench, he was a trial attorney at Holland & Hart LLP — an associate from 1972 to 1978 and a partner from 1978 to 1998 — where he specialized in environmental, tort and insurance litigation. Throughout that time, he was based at the firm’s Denver office, except for a two-year period from 1979 to 1981 when he temporarily relocated to open the firm’s office in Washington, D.C.
Jackson earned his law degree in 1972 from Harvard Law School.
According to his self-evaluation in his Colorado Judicial Performance review, Jackson wrote he is determined to continue his knowledge of the law.
“One of his concerns is that the legislature changes sentencing laws, sometimes ‘almost on an annual basis,’ ” the evaluation says. “Judge Jackson stated that he believes in applying the law fairly and with intellectual honesty.”
In 2006, the Commission on Judicial Performance recommended Jackson be retained to the bench.
“After considering all the performance survey results, several unannounced court observations, and interviewing the judge in person, the Commission found Judge Jackson to be an intelligent, dedicated, hard- working individual who endeavors to render his decisions in a timely fashion and is committed to being an outstanding judge,” the review says.
Udall urged fast action on the nomination.
“Brooke Jackson is eminently qualified, and he is badly needed on the federal court bench, where we have had vacancies for far too long,” Udall said in the statement. “I hope that my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee will act quickly on his nomination so he can be seated as soon as possible.”
