Richard Gabriel

Richard Gabriel is a judge of the Colorado Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2015. His current term ends on January 7, 2029.

Gabriel ran for re-election for judge of the Colorado Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 6, 2018.

Gabriel first became a member of the court by appointment. Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper appointed him in 2015 to succeed Judge Gregory Hobbs.^[1][2] He was retained by voters in 2018. To read more about judicial selection in Colorado, click here.

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.^[3] Gabriel received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.^[4] Click here to read more about this study.

Gabriel previously served on the Colorado Court of Appeals from 2008 to 2015.^[2]

Biography

Gabriel received his B.A. cum laude in American studies from Yale University in 1984 and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1987.^[2]

From 1987 to 1988, Gabriel served as law clerk to Judge Frederick Motz at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Gabriel then worked with the law firm Shea & Gould LLC in New York City. In 1990, he joined the firm Holme Roberts & Owen LLP in Denver, Colorado. He was an associate of this firm from 1990 to 1994 and then became a partner until 2008. Gabriel also served as city prosecutor for Lafayette, Colorado. Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Gabriel to the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2008.^[5] He was retained in 2010 before being appointed in September 2015 to the state supreme court.^[2]

Gabriel's other experience includes serving as president of the Minoru Yasui Inn of Court and serving as chair of the Colorado Judicial Institute and of Our Courts. As of June 2021, he was a trumpeter with the Colorado Wind Ensemble. He served as president of the ensemble from 1994 to 2008.^[2]

Elections

2018

See also: Colorado Supreme Court elections, 2018

2015

Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) appointed Gabriel to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2015 to succeed Judge Gregory Hobbs.^[1][2]

2010 election

Main article: Colorado judicial elections, 2010

Colorado Court of Appeals 2010 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
For retention	915,124	65.9%
Against retention	473,675	34.1%

• Click here for 2010 general election results from the Colorado Secretary of State office.

Retention recommendation

Gabriel was recommended for retention in 2010 by the Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation.^[6]

• Read Gabriel's Judicial Performance Review here.

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.^[7]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

• Strong Democrat
• Mild Democrat
• Indeterminate^[8]
• Mild Republican
• Strong Republican

This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.

Noteworthy cases

Anderson v. Griswold (2023)

See also: Presidential election in Colorado, 2024

On December 19, 2023, Gabriel joined in the 4-3 Colorado Supreme Court majority ruling that excluded Donald Trump (R) from the state's presidential primary ballot. On March 4, 2024, the United States Supreme Court overruled the state supreme court's ruling.^[9]

The Colorado Supreme Court reversed a Denver district court's ruling that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which "disqualifies people who have engaged in insurrection against the Constitution after having taken an oath to support it from holding office," did not apply to the presidency.^[10] The majority opinion said, "A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot."^[11]

The Colorado Supreme Court was the first court in the country to determine that the 14th Amendment's disqualification clause applied to Trump. The decision was stayed until January 4, 2024, to allow for appeals. Trump's campaign said they would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[10]

On January 5, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision barring Trump from the state’s primary ballot. Oral arguments in the case took place on February 8, 2024.^[12]

State supreme court judicial selection in Colorado

See also: Judicial selection in Colorado

The seven justices on the Colorado Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. Each justice is appointed by the governor from a list of names compiled by the Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Commission.^[13][14]

Initial terms last at least two years, after which justices must stand for retention in a yes-no election. Subsequent terms last 10 years.^[14]

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a justice must be:^[15]

• a qualified elector in the state;
• licensed to practice law in the state for five years; and
• under the age of 72 (retirement by 72 is mandatory).

Chief justice

The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by peer vote. Beginning in January 2021, the chief justice began serving for a set term on a rotating basis. Previously, the chief justice served indefinitely as long as he or she had the support of his or her peers.^[16]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a justice's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends to the governor three qualified candidates for an appellate court vacancy (two or three for a trial court vacancy), and the governor selects a successor from that list. After occupying the seat for two years, the newly appointed justice stands for retention in the next general election. The justice then serves a full 10-year term if he or she is retained by voters.^[14]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

See also

External links

Footnotes