Most Coloradans focus on the Governor and the Legislature as having the primary impact on public policy in Colorado.  Few understand that the third branch of government – the judiciary – has as much and sometime more impact on our economy, our jobs and our prosperity.

This study shines a spotlight on the powerful members of our courts by evaluating how their individual decisions affect us.  These evaluations are comprehensive yet they summarize the information in a concise and easy to understand evaluation for each justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. The CCJL will be releasing a similar report for the Court of Appeals soon.

The study was commissioned by the Colorado Civil Justice League with the Judicial Evaluation Institution (JEI), a Washington, D.C.-based research institute.  JEI evaluates these justices from a particular substantive-policy point of view – that the enormous expansion of civil liability in the American courts over the past forty years inhibits growth, discourages enterprise and changes for the worse the way we conduct our personal and professional lives. 

The evaluation assesses justice’s records on issues that involve the creation or expansion of liability.  The focus is on cases where the justices on the court have disagreed with each other, and it compares how justices rule in these cases.

Neither the CCJL nor the JEI are endorsing any justices based on these evaluations.  Rather, for the first time, we hope Colorado citizens will now have reliable information of how the judicial system impacts our lives in Colorado. 

The graph below shows justices' histories. The higher the score, the better record the justice has for restraining the spread of liability. Click the graph for a printer-friendly version.

To view the entire report, use the following Table of Contents

• Copyright, Warranties, etc.
• Summary of Results
• Questions & Answers
• Evaluation Criteria
• The Appeal Process
• Colorado Judicial System
• Colorado Supreme Court
• Distribution of Cases
• Supreme Court Cases Evaluated(New Window)