{"id":22615,"date":"2010-10-20T08:15:01","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T14:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=22615"},"modified":"2010-10-20T12:17:30","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T18:17:30","slug":"robles-seeks-election-to-appeals-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/10\/robles-seeks-election-to-appeals-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Robles seeks election to appeals court"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Robert E. Robles<\/p><\/div>\n

Appellate Judge Robert E. Robles<\/a> says people should consider three things when deciding how to vote in judicial races: experience, qualifications and ethics.<\/p>\n

And Robles, a former district judge in Do\u00f1a Ana County who was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2008, says he has all three. The Democrat is facing a challenge on Nov. 2 from Republican Ned Fuller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Appellate judges who are appointed must face one partisan election. After that, if they\u2019re elected, they run for retention without an opponent.<\/p>\n

The appeals court handles cases related to all areas of law, so Robles said it\u2019s important to select judges who have experience in all areas of law. He spent 13 years as a general-practice lawyer before becoming a district judge in 1991. He was primarily assigned civil cases on that court, but also handled others when other judges recused themselves.<\/p>\n

That wide range of experience, Robles said, \u201chas made the transition\u201d to the appeals court \u201cone where I could hit the ground running, which is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robles said the appeals court hasn\u2019t moved as quickly on cases as it should have in the past, but he\u2019s working to reduce the case backlog. He said he\u2019s put out 40-50 opinions since he joined the court.<\/p>\n

As for qualifications, Robles said that\u2019s different than experience. By qualifications, he means that an independent, bipartisan panel of lawyers has reviewed his record, dug into his past, had the opportunity to vet him for the position he currently holds \u2013 and for a spot on the Supreme Court \u2013 and found him to be qualified for both.<\/p>\n

Robles was one of six applicants recommended by a judicial nominating commission for a spot on the Supreme Court in 2007, but the governor didn\u2019t appoint him. He applied for and received the appeals court position the next year.<\/p>\n

Those commissions do extensive background checks that include consideration of any complaints to the state\u2019s judicial and attorney ethics boards and any lawsuits filed against applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased to say that, having gone through that process, there were no complaints,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n

As for ethics, Robles said judges get on the front page of the newspaper for one of two reasons: Either \u201cthey did something really, really bad\u201d or they are presiding over a high-profile case.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving lived in that glass house for 20 years, I\u2019m happy to say that I\u2019ve only been on the front page because I was involved in a case of significance,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n

Focused on being an appeals judge<\/h3>\n

I asked Robles if he\u2019s still aiming to serve on the Supreme Court. He noted that following the non-partisan nomination process, the selection of Supreme Court justices \u201cgets a little political\u201d because the governor makes the final decision. But he said he\u2019s \u201clearned never to say never.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you right now my focus is to be elected to the Court of Appeals and to help process appeals and to be the best judge I can be,\u201d Robles said. \u201cWho knows what the future holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robles said he believes he\u2019s contributing something \u201cthat is perhaps more significant to the state as a whole\u201d than he did as a district judge. When a judge rules on a case in district court, he\u2019s ruling on that case. But when an appeals court panel rules on an appeal, it\u2019s establishing case law for all the district courts in the state.<\/p>\n

Robles said he believes he has brought a \u201cbroader perspective\u201d to the court. He\u2019s one of two appeals judges from outside the Albuquerque\/Santa Fe area. There are no justices on the Supreme Court from outside Albuquerque and Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

Robles was born in Albuquerque and lived out of the state during much of his childhood, but he returned to New Mexico for college and law school and lived in Las Cruces for 30 years \u2013 more than he\u2019s ever lived any other place in his life. He now lives and works in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

Robles said he certainly believes the law should be applied the same no matter where you\u2019re from, but said judges also bring their life experiences to the job, so it\u2019s important to have regional diversity on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody is made with one stamp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appellate Judge Robert E. Robles says people should consider three things when deciding how to vote in judicial races: experience, qualifications and ethics. And Robles says he has all three.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,161],"class_list":["post-22615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-judiciary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}