Last week, Governor Lujan Grisham appointed District Judges Shannon Bacon and David Thomson to fill the two vacant seats on the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Judge Bacon is on the Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque. According to this story by Rick Nathanson in the Albuquerque Journal, she graduated from St. Pius X High School, and received her bachelor’s and law degrees from Creighton University in Omaha. She clerked for Judge A. Joseph Alarid on the Court of Appeals, and then worked in private practice before Governor Richardson appointed her to the district court. Her biography on the district court website reads as follows:
Judge C. Shannon Bacon was appointed to the Second Judicial District Court in 2010. Judge Bacon presides over a civil docket. Currently, Judge Bacon is the co-chair of the Second Judicial District’s pro bono committee, a Commissioner on the Access to Justice Commission, the Chair of the Supreme Court’s Rules of Evidence and serves on the Supreme Court Personnel Committee. She is also the President of the District and Metropolitan Court Judges Association. Outside of Court, Judge Bacon serves on a non-profit board that serves LBGTQ youth experiencing homelessness.
She has also been involved in efforts to reform the state’s troubled guardianship system. In addition, here is a video interview with Judge Bacon, recorded during her 2010 campaign to stay on the district court bench, in which she talks more about her personal and professional background.
Judge David Thomson was elected to the First Judicial District Court (which serves Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Rio Arriba counties) in 2014. He attended Santa Fe High School, received his law degree from the University of Denver, and clerked for Judge Bruce Black on the federal district court in New Mexico. He then served as director of litigation and deputy attorney general under Attorneys General Patricia Madrid and Gary King. Here’s an interview that Judge Thomson gave in 2014 when he was running for the bench.
Both of the new justices will have to run to keep their seats in the 2020 general election, which will be a partisan race.
Congratulations to Justice Bacon and Justice Thomson!
