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 report, which analyzes Colorado Supreme Court rulings through 2005, updates the CCJL's first Judicial Economic Report issued in 2004. The refreshed data show a widening split between those justices who prefer to expand liability beyond what was enacted by the General Assembly, and those who defer to the legislature on such matters. For more information about the cases used in the study, contact the CCJL at 303.607.0486.

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. 

• 2006 Judicial Economic Report - Supreme Court Scores
  • Introduction
  • Cases
• 2004 Judicial Economic Report