U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

Monday, January 28, 2008

CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-228-3630
Cody Wertz 303-350-0032

Sen. Salazar’s Bipartisan Judicial Selection Commission Holds First Meeting

DENVER, CO – Today, Senator Salazar’s bipartisan judicial selection commission met in Colorado to discuss and formalize the application and review process. The commission has already received several resumes and will announce the formal process for how potential candidates can submit their names for consideration.

Less than two weeks ago, in a letter to the White House, Senator Salazar stated his intent to submit names of highly qualified individuals for consideration as nominees to fill the three judicial vacancies. Senator Salazar also announced that he would establish an eight-member, equally balanced, bipartisan commission to help select individuals for consideration to forward to the White House. The commission is now on track to enable Senator Salazar to submit individual names to the White House by March 15, 2008. The commission will also develop a set of recommendations for how to improve and formalize future federal judicial nomination processes.

Senator Salazar’s eight-member bipartisan commission is chaired by Ross Buchanan, co-founder of the Denver law firm, Buchanan, Jurdem & Cederberg, P.C. and past President of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. In addition to Mr. Buchanan the commission includes:

  • Honorable Rebecca Kourlis, former Colorado Supreme Court Justice and West Slope judge and lawyer and current head of the University of Denver Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System;
  • Frances Koncilja, founder of the law firm Koncilja and Associates and past-President of the Colorado Bar Association and Pueblo, Colorado native;
  • Glen Keller, senior of counsel in the prestigious Denver law firm of Davis, Graham and Stubbs and a former United States Bankruptcy Judge and Assistant Colorado Attorney General;
  • Honorable Norma Anderson, former Colorado State Senator and Majority Leader from Jefferson County, Colorado;
  • Honorable Bill Kaufman, former Colorado State Representative from Loveland, Colorado;
  • Honorable Gloria Tanner, former Colorado State Senator from Denver, Colorado; and
  • Honorable Paul Sandoval, former Colorado State Senator from Denver, Colorado.

 

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