Colorado Court Information

The Colorado Court system includes courts in various levels such as the:

•    Supreme Court of Colorado
•    Colorado Appeals Court
•    Colorado District Courts (present in 22 judicial districts)
•    Colorado County Courts

Colorado Supreme Court

Supreme Court: This is the top-most legal body in the state, and in this court there is a Chief Justice plus 6 Associate Justices.

The state Supreme Court mainly manages certiorari petitions for cases that are decided based on an appeal from the Appeals Court. The court also has jurisdiction in cases of direct appeals in all cases where the trial courts decide the law is unconstitutional for cases of death penalty, those involving water law, elections, and interlocutory appeals.

The Supreme Court of the state has the power to discipline attorneys, advise on questions brought by the state legislature or the attorney general of the state, and those questions that have been referred by federal courts. Plus, there is budget and general supervisory authority of the judicial branch which is in charge of making rules of the court, and handling attorney discipline related matters.

The state Governor appoints the justices for 10 years once the initial 2-year term has ended, and this appointment is made from 3 final candidates who are nominated by the Blue Ribbon. This is a commission that was set up by the constitution of the state. When each term comes to an end, Justices need to be re-elected, and voters are allowed to select them once more or select others to replace them.

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Supreme_Court/Index.cfm

is the official website of the Supreme Court.

Colorado Appeals Court

The state's Court of Appeals (

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Court_of_Appeals/Index.cfm

) is an intermediate appellate court that came into being by statute by the General Assembly of Colorado under Section 1, Article VI of the state's constitution. This court has jurisdiction to decide cases that come from District Courts, the Juvenile Court and Probate Court of Denver, and also cases appealed from different state agencies. Though the court is located in Denver, it has the authority to hold a session in any county for hearing a case.

Colorado District Courts

There are 22 judicial districts in the State of Colorado. These courts handle all matters related to felony and civil claims of any amount, juvenile matters (including adoption, dependency and neglect, juvenile delinquency and paternity actions), mental health, probate, water cases and divorce proceedings. The only district in the state with separate juvenile and probate courts is Denver.

The website of the Colorado District Courts is

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/District/Choose.cfm

.

Colorado County Courts

There are 64 counties in the state and a county court in each one of them. These courts have the jurisdiction to handle all civil cases involving no more than $15,000 in damages, felony advisements, misdemeanor cases, preliminary hearings, bond hearings and all traffic cases. The county judges can also issue search warrants as well as restraining orders in cases involving domestic violence arrests.

Denver Courts

The court system in the city of Denver differs from the others in the state because Denver is both a city and a county. The County Court of Denver works in the capacity of a county and municipal court, and it is financed by taxes collected from the city. Thus, the Denver County Court is not part of the state court system. The judges are appointed by the mayor of the city.