NM prepares for five judicial appointments

Timing ‘in flux’ due to pandemic, special session

SANTA FE — New Mexico is moving forward with the appointment of five district judges even as state lawmakers prepare for a special session to tighten the state budget.

Bipartisan nominating commissions in the 1st and 2nd judicial districts — covering much of northern New Mexico and the Albuquerque area — have recommended 10 candidates to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for three new positions.

Two other districts have accepted applications but haven’t forwarded names to the governor.

Two new judges would work in the 2nd Judicial District, based in Bernalillo County, and one would be stationed in each of the other three districts.

Next week’s special session hasn’t interrupted the hiring process for judges, at least not yet.

The “governor still intends to make appointments, but like many other things right now, the timeline is rather in flux,” Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said this week.

The state budget adopted by the Legislature and Lujan Grisham earlier this year included $1.2 million to pay for the new judges and their staff. A separate piece of legislation, Senate Bill 185, formally established the five judgeships.

The governor and lawmakers are preparing for a special session next week to adjust the state budget amid the collapse in oil and gas prices and disruption of the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

But supporters of the new judgeships say they are still necessary.

“The courts and public defense have been chronically underfunded,” Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur said in a written statement. “There continues to be a need for judges, and for lawyers and staff for public defense.” Here’s where the appointments stand:

■ In the 2nd Judicial District, a nomi

nating commission has recommended Laguna Pueblo Presiding Judge Bruce Fox; Jason Greenlee of the state Public Safety Department; Anthony Long, deputy district attorney in the 13th Judicial District; Joseph A. Montaño, deputy district attorney in the 2nd Judicial District; Clara Moran, chief deputy attorney general; public defender Michael Rosenfield; and Lucy Solimon, enforcement bureau chief at the state Workers’ Compensation Administration.

Bernalillo County plans to add a new courtroom as part of renovations at its Downtown Albuquerque courthouse. A new courtroom is also under construction at the Juvenile Justice Center.

In the 1st Judicial District, which covers Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties, a nominating commission has recommended Kathleen McGarry Ellenwood, Michael Jones and Pierre Levy.

Candidates have not been recommended yet in the 3rd Judicial District — based in Doña Ana County — or the 12th district, covering Lincoln and Otero counties.