The federal appeals court based in Denver convened its annual conference last week, featuring an appearance from a U.S. Supreme Court justice, panels about criminal sentencing and election law, and private discussions between judges at all levels of the federal system.
In even-numbered years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals in Colorado and five neighboring states, holds a gathering of lawyers and judges in Colorado Springs. This year, the court hosted its judges-only meeting from Sept. 6-8 in Santa Fe, N.M.
The 10th Circuit declined to allow Colorado Politics to attend the 2023 conference. However, the chair of the conference’s programming committee, Judge Veronica S. Rossman of Colorado, agreed to speak with Colorado Politics on the record afterward about the event.
As with the previous year’s gathering, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined the conference and participated in an interview.
According to Rossman, he did not address current controversies surrounding the nation’s highest court.
“His introductory remarks were really focused on his time on the circuit,” said Rossman.
Gorsuch, a 2017 appointee of Donald Trump, was a 10th Circuit judge until his elevation.
Rossman said Gorsuch was interviewed by Jeffrey Rosen, a professor at The George Washington University Law School and leader of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Gorsuch is also an honorary co-chair of the center’s board of trustees, along with retired Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
“His discussion with Jeff was entirely about the initiatives that the National Constitution Center was putting forth on civics education,” Rossman explained.
Neither Rosen nor a Supreme Court spokesperson immediately responded to emails seeking comment.
Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first appointee to the high court, speaks to The Associated Press about events that have influenced his life and the loss of civility in public discourse, in his chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. Gorsuch has written a new book on the importance of civics and civility, and a defense of his preferred originalism method of interpreting laws and the Constitution. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Gorsuch’s reported decision to not talk about revelations of his colleagues’ entanglements with wealthy individuals and declining public approval of the Supreme Court stood in contrast to the more explicit comments other justices have made at recent circuit court conferences.
Earlier this month, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh told a conference of the Sixth Circuit that he hopes “some concrete steps” will occur soon on Supreme Court ethics reform. Justice Elena Kagan in August voiced her view at a Ninth Circuit conference that Congress may regulate certain aspects of the Supreme Court — a counterpoint to Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s blunt rejection of Congress’s regulatory authority, which he expressed to The Wall Street Journal.
Rossman, a 2021 appointee of President Joe Biden to the 10th Circuit, told Colorado Politics that no financial sources from outside the judiciary supported the conference. She said the first half of the three-day gathering involved business meetings between various groups of federal judges, along with an executive session to discuss judicial matters.
“I don’t feel comfortable sharing the subjects of the individual judicial business meetings,” she said.
Unlike the larger conferences in Colorado Springs that lawyers also attend, the odd-year judges’ events focus on discussions of regional and national issues that affect the work of judges.
They are a “means of bringing judges together so they can talk on their own and exchange ideas and think creatively and broadly about the judicial endeavor,” she said.
Veronica Rossman, nominated to a seat on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, testifies before a Senate hearing in Washington, June 9, 2021.
Shon Hopwood, a formerly incarcerated man and now a professor at Georgetown Law, spoke about criminal sentencing and sentencing reform at the federal level, as well as “the need for second chances in our criminal justice system,” said Rossman. There was a panel discussion about the work of the Supreme Court, featuring former 10th Circuit Judges Robert H. Henry and Michael W. McConnell, UC Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky, and Supreme Court litigator Erin Murphy.
Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich of Colorado moderated a panel about election law featuring three academics. Although the 10th Circuit does not often weigh in on such cases, the Supreme Court has taken up issues this past term involving the drawing of congressional districts and the role of the judiciary in reviewing states’ election protocols.
“It is certainly on the radar for everyone,” Rossman said. “Federal judges — not just appellate judges, but district judges in the 10th Circuit — need to be thinking about how to understand the recent Supreme Court jurisprudence and to anticipate there might be cases concerning election law issues in their courts.”
Finally, the conference featured a panel discussion about managing stress and self-care.
“We talk about access to justice, we think about people being able to come to the courts,” explained Rossman. “But it also means the judge who presides needs to be present, accessible and ready to serve the public. I thought that was a really important point.”
The heads of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Federal Judicial Center were also in attendance to provide a national update on judicial budget issues and “educational initiatives.” Rossman said she is still reflecting on what she learned, but she appreciated the collegiality the judges from across the circuit showed.
“For me, I’m still fairly new and there were a lot of new judges there,” she said. “Some folks hadn’t been there for more than three years. It reinforced how privileged I am to serve on the federal courts with the dedicated judicial officers from around the 10th Circuit.”
The conference took place at the La Fonda on the Plaza hotel. In addition to Rossman, circuit judges Tymkovich and Joel M. Carson III of New Mexico served on the programming committee, as did U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang of Colorado, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Fashing of New Mexico and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Romero of Colorado.
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