Nancy Rice
From Ballotpedia
Nancy Rice
Prior offices
Colorado Supreme Court
Education
Nancy E. Rice was the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. She was first appointed to the court in August 1998 by Democratic Governor Roy Romer. She was retained by voters in 2000 and 2010. Her term would have expired on January 11, 2021.[1] She was named chief justice in 2013 and took that office in January 2014.[1][2] She retired from the court on June 30, 2018.[3]
Education
Rice earned her undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1972 and her J.D. from the University of Utah College of Law in 1975.[1]
Career
- 1998-2018: Justice, Colorado Supreme Court
- 2014-2018: Chief justice
- 1987-1998: Judge, Colorado Second District Court
- 1978-Present: Faculty member, University of Colorado School of Law
- 1977-1987: Assistant U.S. attorney, District of Colorado
- 1976-1977: Deputy state public defender, Appellate Division
- 1975-1976: Law clerk, Judge Fred Winner of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado[1]
Awards and associations
Awards
- 1998: Award for Judicial Merit, Phi Alpha Delta
- 1996-1997: Best Litigation Article Award, Colorado Bar Association
- 1993: Judicial Excellence Award, Denver Bar Association
Associations
- Member, Denver Bar Association
- Member, Colorado Bar Association
- Member, Women's Bar Association
- Member, Supreme Court Civil Rules Committee, 1998
- Master, Rhone-Brackett Inn of Court, 1993-1997
- Member, Supreme Court Ad Hoc Committee on the Revision of the Colorado Civil Rules, 1994
- Member, Colorado Bar Association, Executive Council 1991-1992
- Co-chair, Women Judges Association, National Conference in Denver, 1990
- Former Member, Colorado Bar Association, Board of Governors
- Editor-in Chief, University of Utah Journal of Contemporary Law[1]
Elections
2010
- Main article: Colorado judicial elections, 2010
| Colorado Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 General election results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent |
Nancy Rice 
|
891,962 | 62% |
| Against retention | 548,633 | 38% |
- Click here for 2010 General Election Results from the Colorado Secretary of State.
Opposition
There was a movement headed by judicial reform organization Clear the Bench Colorado not to retain Justice Bender, along with the other three justices up for a 2010 retention vote.[4] Critics of the court say "the majority of the justices' rulings on property taxes, eminent domain and congressional redistricting have violated the state's constitution or are clearly partisan".[5]
Performance evaluations
The Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation voted unanimously to recommend Rice for retention. The COJPE reviews the answers of attorneys and District Judges and asked a variety of questions to determine the Judge's performance. The score is rated on a 4 point scale similar to school grades. Since 1990, which was the first election year after the statutory creation of judicial performance commissions and the use of performance evaluations, all Colorado Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges standing for retention have received "do retain" recommendations.[6] Until 2010 no additional information on judicial performance has been made available to the public.
| Question classification | Attorney score | District Judge score | Combined average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impartiality | 3.59 | 3.36 | 3.48 |
| Clear opinions | 3.49 | 3.30 | 3.4 |
| Adequate explanation of opinion | 3.54 | 3.39 | 3.47 |
| Timely response | 3.37 | 3.25 | 3.31 |
| Response without criticism | 3.59 | 3.58 | 3.59 |
| Response based on law | 3.57 | 3.26 | 3.42 |
| Not ruling on extra issues | 3.4 | 3.24 | 3.32 |
| Respect towards all parties | 3.81 | 3.71 | 3.76 |
| No ex parte communications | 3.81 | 3.78 | 3.8 |
| Overall | 3.3 | 3.57 | 3.44 |
- Read another Evaluation of Judicial Performance for Justice Rice here.
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Rice received a campaign finance score of -0.27, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was less liberal than the average score of -0.29 that justices received in Colorado.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[8]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Colorado Justice Nancy Rice. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- Colorado Supreme Court
- Rice biography from the University of Colorado
- Law Week Colorado, "Colorado Supreme Court Tosses Amendment 54," February 22, 2010
- Denver Post, "Colorado Supreme Court gives go-ahead to school funding trial," October 20, 2009
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Colorado Judicial Branch, "Nancy E. Rice," accessed August 10, 2016
- ↑ Law Week Colorado, "Justice Rice Named Chief Justice-Designate," June 6, 2013
- ↑ The Gazette, " Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy E. Rice to retire," March 8, 2018
- ↑ Clear the Bench Colorado website
- ↑ Denver Post "Four Supreme Court justices face a tough vote in elections," February 15, 2010
- ↑ Email correspondence with Jane B. Howell, Executive Director of the CCJPE, Aug 27, 2010
- ↑ Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation, Review of Justice Rice
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
