Nathan Coats

Nathan Coats
Current Court Information:
Colorado Supreme Court
Title:	Justice
Service:
Appointed by:	Gov. Bill Owens
Active:	2000-2023
Past post:	Appellate Deputy District Attorney, Colorado Second Judicial District
Past term:	1986-2000
Personal History
Bachelors:	University of Colorado, 1971
Law School:	University of Colorado School of Law, 1977
Candidate 2012:
Candidate for:	Supreme Court
State:	Colorado
Election information 2012:
Incumbent:	Yes
Election date:	11/6/2012
Retention vote:	1,399,326
Retention vote %:	71.39% A

Nathan B. Coats is an associate justice on the Colorado Supreme Court. He was first appointed to the court on April 24, 2000 by Governor Bill Owens. Justice Coats was successfully retained in 2002 and 2012. His term ends in January of 2023.

Education

Justice Coats earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Colorado in 1971. In 1977 he earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado School of Law.

Professional career

Immediately following graduation from law school, Coats was an Associate at Hough, Grant, McCarren and Bernard where he worked from 1977 to 1978. From 1978 until 1983 he served as Assistant Colorado Attorney General of the Appellate Section. From 1983-1986, Coats was Deputy Colorado Attorney General of the Appellate Section. He served as Appellate Deputy District Attorney for the Colorado Second Judicial District from 1986 to May 2000. He was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court on April 24, 2000 where he still serves.

Awards and Associatons

Associations

• Member, Colorado Supreme Court, Criminal Rules Committee, 1993-2000
• Chair, Colorado Supreme Court, Criminal Rules Committee, 1997-2000
• Member, Colorado Supreme Court, Appellate Rules Committee , 1985-2000
• Member, Colorado Supreme Court, Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee, 1987-2000
• Member, Colorado District Attorneys Council Legislative Committee, 1990-2000
• Member, Colorado Supreme Court, Joint Civil/Criminal Subcommittee on the Colorado Rules of Evidence, 1996-2000
• Member, Colorado Supreme Court Jury Reform Pilot Project Committee, 1998-2000
• Reporter, Governor's Columbine Commission, Fall 1999-April 2000
• Lecturer, Denver Police Academy, 1986-1997
• Member, Colorado Supreme Court, Board of Law Examiners, 1984-1994

Elections

2012 election

Coats stood for retention in the general election on November 6, 2012, and was retained, winning 71.39% of the vote.

See also: Colorado judicial elections, 2012

2002 election

Colorado Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2002 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Nathan Coats		828,622	74.3%
Against retention		286,961	25.7%

• Click here (scroll to page 129) for 2002 General Election Results from the Colorado Secretary of State.

Judicial performance evaluations

2012 performance evaluation

Colorado Commission on Judicial Performance

The Colorado Commission on Judicial Performance announced its recommendations for judges up for retention in 2012. According to its website, the commission evaluates judges based on the following criteria: integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, and administrative performance.

Criticism of process

There are critics of the state's method for evaluating judges. The most common complaint is that the evaluations are simply "rubber stamps" for judges standing for retention. To learn more about this viewpoint, read: The Denver Post, "Evaluating the performance of justices," February 15, 2010.

Justice Coats was recommended for retention by a 10-0 vote.

Clear the Bench Colorado

Clear the Bench Colorado is a conservative organization which provides evaluations for individual rulings of judges seeking retention. It summarized Justice Coats as voting 6-2-2 in upholding the Colorado Constitution. For a comparison of his votes in specific cases, see: Clear the Bench Colorado, Key Colorado Supreme Court Cases.

Support retention

• Boulder Weekly. To read the article calling for the judge's retention, see Boulder Weekly, "Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court: Retain Justice Nathan B. Coats," October 4, 2012.
• The Pueblo Chieftain.

2002 performance evaluation

The Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation voted unanimously to recommend Coats for retention. The COJPE reviews the answers of attorneys and District Judges and asked a variety of questions to determine the Judge's performance. The score is rated on a 4 point scale similar to school grades. Since 1990, which was the first election year after the statutory creation of judicial performance commissions and the use of performance evaluations, all Colorado Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges standing for retention have received do retain recommendations. Until 2010 no additional information on judicial performance has been made available to the public.

Question classification	Attorney score	District Judge score	Combined average
Impartiality	3.4	3.3	3.35
Clear opinions	3.3	3.3	3.3
Adequate explanation of opinion	3.5	3.1	3.3
Timely response	3.2	3.2	3.2
Response without criticism	3.5	3.4	3.45
Response based on law	3.2	3.3	3.25
Not ruling on extra issues	3.7	3.3	3.5
Respect towards all parties	3.7	3.7	3.7
No ex parte communications	3.9	3.7	3.8
Overall	3.49	3.78	3.64

Political Affiliations and Campaign Contributions

Judge Nathan B. Coats is currently listed as "nonpartisan" because Colorado judges are chosen via merit selection and retention elections are held for sitting justices; no campaign reports have been filed.

See also

• Colorado
• Colorado Supreme Court

External links

• Colorado Supreme Court
• Coats Biography
• The Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark, "Smoking Bans and the First Amendment...free speech goes up in smoke in Colorado", December 15, 2009

References