Monica M. Márquez made history last month by becoming the first Latina chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.
Márquez took the road less traveled on her way to becoming an attorney.
"I've had kind of a long and winding career," she said.
Márquez grew up in Grand Junction and began her career as an educator.
"I started out as a public school teacher, and then, you know, worked my way into law school," she said.
Márquez was sworn in on July 26 as the new Colorado Supreme Court chief justice, making her the first Latina to hold the title of chief justice in the state's history. She was first appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2010 by Governor Bill Ritter.
Márquez's father, Jose D.L. Márquez, was the first Latino judge of the Colorado Court of Appeals and helped inspire her career.
"I was so blessed to have my father, who was the first in his family to go to college, the first in his family to go to law school," she said.
Her father attended her swearing-in ceremony and has never missed a chance to celebrate her major moments.
"He swore me into the bar back in 1997," Márquez said. "And then he had the opportunity to actually swear me in when I first became a justice in 2010, which is an incredibly powerful father-daughter moment."
In addition to being the first Latina in Colorado’s history to hold the title of chief justice, Márquez is also the longest-tenured openly LGBTQ+ state Supreme Court justice currently serving in the U.S.
"I'm here to serve all Coloradans," she said. "I'm not here to represent any particular constituency. The importance of my being Latino or LGBT or from the Western Slope is that that's the life experience that I bring to the table. But all of my colleagues bring their respective life experiences to the table, and it's that collective life experience that I think helps us make wiser decisions."
As Márquez embarks on her 3-year term as chief justice, she takes on additional obligations.
"It's an enormous responsibility," she said. "We have a large third branch of government, 4,200 employees, 400 plus judicial officers. We are in every single county in Colorado, nearly a billion dollar budget."
The new role requires Márquez to act in a managerial capacity.
"In addition to my ordinary duties as a justice, reviewing cases, making decisions, writing opinions, hearing oral arguments, as chief, I will be responsible for assigning opinions among the other members of our court," she said. "But really, the important and big work is running that third branch of government. So overseeing our budget priorities, our legislative priorities, HR personnel, all of the things that go along with running an entire branch of government."
Márquez is balancing those new duties with her longstanding volunteerism.
"I've been passionate throughout my career about improving diversity in the legal profession and improving diversity on the bench," she said. "We've done so many things to try to mentor young people at the college level into law school, at the law student level as they enter the practice... helping them go through mock interviews to prepare for the process, just having one-on-one conversations."
Márquez hopes the barriers she has broken will help create pathways for others.
"There's a pressure to open doors for others behind you. I feel all of that, and of course, I also feel pride," she said. "I'm glad that I'm in this position."
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