Colorado’s state court system primarily has two tiers. The Court of Appeals handles most appeals from the state’s trial courts and some specialty courts. It addresses claims of legal error by the trial courts that affected the outcome of the proceedings below. Appeals to the Colorado Court of Appeals are by right, meaning all appeals will be heard. The Colorado Supreme Court can decide which cases to hear and will usually only take cases that involve unsettled questions of law or interpretation of statutes. On rare occasions, the Colorado Supreme Court has original jurisdiction, meaning appeals from the trial courts skip the Court of Appeals and go directly to the Supreme Court.

The United States Federal Court system works similarly. The United States District Court for the District of Colorado is the federal trial court in Colorado. It hears cases in Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and Durango. Intermediate appeals from these courts as well as federal district courts in other western states, including Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming, are heard at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Downtown Denver.

The United States Supreme Court can choose to hear appeals from state supreme courts and the circuit courts of appeals. Of the many cases appealed to the United States Supreme Court, only very few are chosen to be heard there.

The appellate process often takes significant time. It can be over a year from the time an appeal is filed at the intermediate court of appeals (state or federal) to the time that court issues a ruling. It can take an equal amount of time to have a case resolved at the Colorado or United States Supreme Court, assuming they choose to hear the case.