Opinion ID: 2640468
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Background of this Controversy

Text: The State Commission on Judicial Performance consists of ten members. The statute authorizes the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate to appoint two commissioners each, one attorney and one non-attorney, to the State Commission on Judicial Performance. § 13-5.5-102(1)(a), C.R.S. (2005). The controversy before us involves two separate lines of appointing authority: (1) the Speaker's appointments of Respondents Sears and Miller; and (2) the President of the Senate's appointment of Respondents Levin and Banta. The Speaker line of appointments began in December 1997 when the then-sitting Speaker of the House appointed Sears to a four-year term on the State Commission. On November 29, 2001, Sears was reappointed to a second four-year term, which was scheduled to end November 30 of 2005 (that date assumes that Sears's four-year term commenced on the date of appointment, as Petitioners argue). On January 6, 2005, then-sitting Speaker, Lola Spradley, appointed Miller to replace Sears, nearly a year before Sears's second four-year term was set to expire (that is, according to the argument of Petitioners). Speaker Spradley's appointment, made just before she left office, was based upon an interpretation of subsection 13-5.5-102(1)(a) that commissioners' terms should begin and end in even-numbered years and that their terms of office were fixed for a four-year period. [2] When Romanoff took over as Speaker of the House later in January 2005, he reinstated Sears and extended his term to November 30, 2006. [3] The President of the Senate's line of appointments began with the then-sitting Senate President's appointment of Levin to the Commission in November 2001. Levin's four-year term was scheduled to expire November 30, 2005 (that is, again, according to the argument of Petitioners). Immediately before leaving office and based upon the same statutory interpretation underlying Spradley's appointment of Miller, then-President of the Senate, John Andrews, appointed William Banta to replace Levin on January 3, 2005. [4] Upon assuming the presidency of the Senate on January 10, 2005, Respondent Fitz-Gerald reinstated Levin and extended his term to November 30, 2006. Since the reinstatements of Sears and Levin, they, along with Miller and Banta, have been attempting to serve on the Commission. Because of this controversy, the Commission has been unable to perform the bulk of its statutory duties. Speaker Romanoff and President Fitz-Gerald now petition this court under C.A.R. 21 to consider a writ in the nature of quo warranto to establish the lawful officeholders.