A Federal Perspective
| Publication year | 2017 |
| Pages | 8 |
JUDGES’ CORNER
By MARCIA S. KRIEGER, CHIEF JUDGE, U.S. DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Each fall, I am thrilled to join my stateside colleagues in welcoming new members to the Colorado bar. The most moving part of the swearing in, I think, is when we all take the attorney’s oath together. Invariably, it takes me back to the first time I took that oath almost 40 years ago. At that time, and during most of the years that I was in private practice, I wasn’t very familiar with the federal court. I knew where it was located and that the judges were really demanding, and I occasionally appeared there. But I didn’t know much else about the “federal side of the street.” If you find yourself in that boat, I hope this article interests you.
The District of Colorado —A Bit of History
Congress created the first 13 federal judicial districts in 1789, each district corresponding to one of the original 13 states. The original jurisdiction for these federal trial courts was primarily in admiralty and maritime, with some minor civil and criminal cases rounding out the docket. The District of Colorado was created when Colorado became a state in 1876. At that time, Congress authorized one judgeship, and President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Moses Hallett to fill the vacancy. Judge Hallett, formerly an attorney in Illinois, had come to Colorado to mine for gold. Apparently, that endeavor was not as remunerative as he had hoped, so he returned to the law, forming the first law partnership in Denver and later serving on the Colorado Territorial Supreme Court.
Judge Hallett was known for enforcing strict courtroom decorum.[1] In contrast to earlier practices, there was no smoking, no card playing, and no hats or guns allowed. As a trial judge, Judge Hallett traversed the state on horseback, carrying law books in his saddlebags. One of his favorite stories was about a visit he made to the San Luis Valley. He was required to hold a term of court at the county seat of Saguache, but when he got there, he found no town or county buildings, and no one who could tell him where Saguache was. So, he commandeered a local farmhouse and compelled its owners to move their furniture so that he could hold court in t he front room. Fortunately, that farmhouse ultimately was located within the city limits of what became the county seat, Saguache.
Have Robe, Will Travel
The District of Colorado is coterminous with Colorado's boundaries. This means that the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (hereinafter "court") serves more than 5.5 million people located on more than 104,000 square miles. Colorado's size makes the District of Colorado the largest federal district without judicial divisions, aside from Alaska.
Colorado's unique geography, history, and natural resources make it an outdoor playground and living museum, but they also present jurisdictional challenges. The vast majority of lands in Colorado's central mountains and Western Slope are managed by various federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, National Forest Service, and National Parks Department, thus bringing civil land use disputes and some criminal prosecutions involving those lands into federal court. Several military installations are also found on the Front Range, and Southwest Colorado is home to two Indian Reservations (Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute), all of which further expand the scope of federal criminal jurisdiction in the state.
Despite the broad federal presence and extensive jurisdiction in the state (not to mention Judge Hallett's own peripatetic example), over the years, most litigants had to travel to Denver to conduct court business. Eventually, the court assigned part-time...
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