U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

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

 

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, February 8, 2008

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

***Application Deadline February 15***

 

Deadline to Submit Applications to be Considered by Judicial Advisory Commission is Friday, February 15

 

Media Outlets, Please Post this Reminder in Your Community Calendar Sections

DENVER, CO – As a reminder, the bipartisan judicial selection advisory commission established by Senator Salazar to recommend candidates to the President for the pending and upcoming judicial vacancies on the U.S. District Court in Colorado will be accepting applications until close of business on Friday, February 15, 2008.

The commission has already received many resumes and has now formalized the process for how potential candidates can submit their names for consideration. Any person interested in being considered for Presidential nomination and Senate confirmation to fill one of the pending or upcoming judicial vacancies on the U.S. District Court must submit an application. The application process is open to all interested individuals.

The Commission will review the applications and determine which applicants will subsequently be personally interviewed. The Commission will then conduct interviews on March 13 and 14 and forward a list of recommendations to Senator Salazar.

Senator Salazar established the bipartisan commission to assist him in gathering a list of recommendations of nominees to send to the White House to fill the new vacancy on the U.S. District Court for Colorado as well as the two additional upcoming vacancies.

Application forms are available by clicking here, on the Senator’s website at www.salazar.senate.gov or from Senator Salazar’s Denver office, 2300 15th Street, STE 450, Denver, CO 80202.

Details on the application process are as follows:

  • The original and 10 hardcopies of the application mustbe received in Senator Salazar’s Denver office no later than 5:00 p.m., Friday, February 15, 2008.
  • Late applications will not be considered.
  • Applicants may include up to five references in their application of individuals who are in a position to comment upon their qualifications for a judicial position.
  • Applicants may request up to three letters of recommendation to be submitted to Salazar’s office. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the letters of recommendation (original and 10 copies) are submitted by the application filing deadline.
  • The applications and all other information submitted for the commission’s review, as well as the commission’s deliberations, are confidential.
  • If applicants have any questions regarding the process they can email Senator Salazar’s office at judicial_nominations@salazar.senate.gov.

Last month, in a letter to the White House, Senator Salazar stated to the White House, 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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