United States District Court for the District of Colorado

District of Colorado
Tenth Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 7
Judges: 7
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Philip Brimmer
Active judges: Philip Brimmer, S. Kato Crews, Daniel Domenico, Gordon Gallagher, Regina Rodriguez, Charlotte Sweeney, Nina Nin-Yuen Wang Senior judges: Christine Arguello, Lewis Babcock, Robert Blackburn, R. Brooke Jackson, John Kane, Marcia Krieger, William J. Martinez, Raymond P. Moore

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado is one of 94 United States district courts. The court is based out of Denver at the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse. It also has a second courthouse in Denver and courts in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and Durango. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit based in downtown Denver at the Byron White Federal Courthouse.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There is one current vacancy on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, out of the court's seven judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Philip Brimmer	George W. Bush (R)	October 14, 2008 -	Harvard, 1981	Yale Law, 1985
Daniel Domenico	Donald Trump (R)	May 7, 2019 -	Georgetown University, 1995	University of Virginia School of Law, 2000
Regina Rodriguez	Joe Biden (D)	July 1, 2021 -	University of Iowa, 1985	University of Colorado School of Law, 1988
Charlotte Sweeney	Joe Biden (D)	July 18, 2022 -	California Lutheran University, 1991	University of Denver College of Law, 1995
Nina Nin-Yuen Wang	Joe Biden (D)	July 22, 2022 -	Washington University	Harvard Law School
Gordon Gallagher	Joe Biden (D)	March 24, 2023 -	Macalester College, 1991	University of Denver College of Law, 1996
S. Kato Crews	Joe Biden (D)	January 12, 2024 -		James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, 2000

Active Article III judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 5
• Republican appointed: 2

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
John Kane	Jimmy Carter (D)	April 8, 1988 -	University of Colorado, 1958	University of Denver Law, 1960
Lewis Babcock	Ronald Reagan (R)	April 4, 2008 -	University of Denver, 1965	University of Denver Law, 1968
Robert Blackburn	George W. Bush (R)	April 12, 2016 -	Western State College, 1972	University of Colorado Law, 1974
Marcia Krieger	George W. Bush (R)	March 3, 2019 -	Lewis and Clark College, 1975	University of Colorado Law, 1979
R. Brooke Jackson		September 30, 2021 -	Dartmouth, 1969	Harvard Law, 1972
Christine Arguello	George W. Bush (R)	July 15, 2022 -	University of Colorado, 1977	Harvard Law, 1980
William J. Martinez	Barack Obama (D)	February 10, 2023 -	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1977	University of Chicago Law, 1980
Raymond P. Moore	Barack Obama (D)	June 20, 2023 -	Yale, 1975	Yale Law, 1978

Senior judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 4
• Republican appointed: 4

Magistrate judges

Federal magistrate judges are federal judges who serve in United States district courts, but they are not appointed by the president and they do not serve life terms. Magistrate judges are assigned duties by the district judges in the district in which they serve. They may preside over most phases of federal proceedings, except for criminal felony trials. The specific duties of a magistrate judge vary from district to district, but the responsibilities always include handling matters that would otherwise be on the dockets of the district judges. Full-time magistrate judges serve for renewable terms of eight years. Some federal district courts have part-time magistrate judges, who serve for renewable terms of four years.

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Michael Hegarty		February 15, 2006 -
Scott T. Varholak		October 1, 2016 -
Reid Neureiter		August 14, 2018 -
James Candelaria		January 2, 2019 -
Maritza Dominguez Braswell		July 6, 2022 -	University of Denver, 2002	Rutgers Law School, 2008

Former chief judges

In order to qualify for the office of chief judge in an Article III circuit or district court, or on the United States Court of International Trade, a judge must be in active service and hold seniority over the court's commissioned judges who are 64 years of age or under, have served one year or more, and have not previously served as chief judge.

In the event that no judge on the court meets those qualifications, the youngest judge in regular active service aged 65 years or more and who has served as a judge for one year or more shall become chief judge. If no judge meets those qualifications, the judge holding seniority in active service who has not served as chief before shall become the chief judge.

The chief judge serves for a term of seven years until another judge becomes eligible to serve in the position. No judge is permitted to serve as chief judge after reaching the age of 70 years unless no other judge is qualified to serve.

Unlike the chief justice of the United States, a chief judge returns to active service after the expiration of their term and does not create a vacancy on the court by the fact of their promotion.

On the United States Court of Federal Claims, the chief judge is selected by the president of the United States. The judge must be less than 70 years of age. A chief may serve until they reach age 70 or until another judge is designated by the president as the new chief judge. If the president selects a new chief judge, the former chief judge may continue active service on the court for the remainder of their appointed term.

Marcia Krieger - (2013 - 2018) Wiley Daniel - (2008 - 2013) Edward Nottingham - (2007 - 2008) Lewis Babcock - (2000 - 2007) Richard Matsch - (1994 - 2000)

Sherman Finesilver - (1982 - 1994) Fred Winner - (1976 - 1982) Alfred Arraj - (1959 - 1976) William Knous - (1954 - 1959)

Former judges

For more information about the judges of the District of Colorado, see former federal judges of the District of Colorado.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Colorado (click for larger map)

The District of Colorado has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

The jurisdiction of the District of Colorado consists of all the counties in the state of Colorado.

Caseloads

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in September 2024.

Click [show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.

Caseload statistics explanation
Term	Explanation
Cases filed and terminated	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated or decided by the court in a calendar year. The chart below reflects the table columns Cases filed and Cases terminated.
Average time from filing to disposition	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to date of disposition (acquittal, sentencing, dismissal, etc.). The chart below reflects the table columns Median time (Criminal) and Median time (Civil).
Starting case load	The number of cases pending from the previous calendar year.
Cases filed	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated in a calendar year.
Cases terminated	The total number of civil and criminal lawsuits decided by the court in a calendar year.
Remaining cases	The number of civil and criminal cases pending at the end of a given year.
Median time (Criminal)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. In criminal cases, the date of disposition occurs on the day of sentencing or acquittal/dismissal.
Median time (Civil)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition.
Three-year civil cases	The number and percent of civil cases that were filed more than three years before the end of the given calendar year.
Vacant posts	The number of months during the year an authorized judgeship was vacant.
Trial/Post	The number of trials completed divided by the number of authorized judgeships on the court. Trials include evidentiary trials, hearings on temporary restraining orders, and preliminary injunctions.
Source: United States Courts, "Explanation of the Judicial Caseload Profiles for United States District Courts," accessed September 25, 2018

United States District Court for the District of Colorado caseload stats, 2010-2023
Year	Cases Filed	Cases Terminated	Cases Pending	Number of Judgeships	Vacant Judgeship Months	Average Total Filings per Judgeship	Trials Completed per Judgeship	Median time from filing to disposition, criminal	Median time from filing to disposition, civil	Three-year civil cases (#)	Three-year civil cases (%)
2010	4,163	4,097	3,170	7	24	595	26	9	6	67	3
2011	4,126	4,108	2,920	7	7	589	21	9	5	59	3
2012	4,200	4,089	3,236	7	0	600	25	9	6	87	4
2013	4,288	4,161	3,334	7	3	613	23	9	6	83	3
2014	4,252	4,289	3,299	7	0	607	18	9	6	61	2
2015	3,559	3,702	3,094	7	0	508	21	10	8	64	3
2016	3,848	3,715	3,079	7	9	550	18	10	8	63	3
2017	3,927	3,754	3,234	7	12	561	23	9	7	70	3
2018	4,078	3,943	3,352	7	3	583	20	9	8	88	3
2019	4,441	4,133	3,660	7	13	634	17	11	7	105	4
2020	4,371	4,072	3,947	7	12	624	10	12	8	120	4
2021	4,073	4,137	3,841	7	15	582	16	16	9	173	6
2022	3,904	4,064	3,655	7	0	558	17	15	9	179	6
2023	4,073	3,990	3,744	7	0	582	15	14	8	223	7
Average	4,093	4,018	3,398	7	7	585	19	11	7	103	4

History

The District of Colorado was established by Congress on June 26, 1876, with one post to cover the entire state. Over time, six additional judicial posts were added for a total of seven current posts.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the District of Kansas:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
June 26, 1876	19 Stat. 61	1
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	2
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	3
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	4
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	6
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	7

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions for the District of Colorado.

• Qwest CEO case (2010)      Judge(s):Marcia Krieger (United States v. Nacchio, 1082-1 : 1:05-CR-00545-MSK-1)	Click for summary→
On January 11, 2010, Judge Krieger denied a new trial for former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio on insider trading charges. The judge denied the request despite Nacchio's legal team claiming that the testimony of former Qwest Chief Financial Officer Robin Szeliga, in a civil lawsuit related to the case, found that the former CEO did not engage in insider trading. Krieger disallowed the request on the basis that the testimony in the civil trial was not different from the criminal trial and did not had enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to reverse the conviction.

Noteworthy events

Federal Judicial Conference recommendation (2019)

In March 2019, the Federal Judicial Conference (FJC) recommended that two judgeships be added to the district. Based on FJC data, the district handled 572 weighted filings per judgeship from September 2017 to September 2018. Weighted filings are a specific metric used by the federal judiciary that accounts for the different amounts of time judges require to resolve types of civil and criminal cases. The national average in that period for weighted filings per judgeship was 513.

The FJC is the policy-making body for the United States federal courts system. It was first organized as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges in 1922. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States serves as chair of the conference. The members of the conference are the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the Chief Judge of the Court of International Trade, and a district judge from each regional judicial circuit.

Federal courthouse

Five courthouses serve the District of Colorado; two are located in Denver and the others are located in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and Durango.

About United States District Courts

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal courts. There are 94 such courts. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity.

There is a United States bankruptcy court and a number of bankruptcy judges associated with each United States district court. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as U.S. district courts. Despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on these territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article III of the Constitution, and serve terms of 10 years rather than for life.

There are 677 U.S. District Court judgeships.

The number of federal district judge positions is set by the U.S. Congress in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 133, which authorizes a set number of judge positions, or judgeships, making changes and adjustments in these numbers from time to time.

In order to relieve the pressure of trying the hundreds of thousands of cases brought before the federal district courts each year, many trials are tried by juries, along with a presiding judge.

Appointments by president

The chart below shows the number of district court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through March 1 of the first year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, no president had made Article III judicial appointments.