10th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
The Senate voted 58-41 on April 1, 2003 to confirm Timothy Tymkovich to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Tymkovich would use his notion of federalism to deny Americans their fundamental constitutional rights, including the right to privacy and reproductive freedom. He has argued that states should not have to pay for abortions for poor women in cases of rape or incest as required by Medicaid and defended a state referendum that would have barred legislation to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
- Timothy Tymkovich was born in 1956 in Denver, CO. He obtained a BA degree from Colorado College in 1979 and a JD from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1982.
- In 1982-1983, Tymkovich served as a law clerk to Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice William Erickson.
- In 1983, he became an associate with the firm of Davis Graham & Stubbs, where he worked until 1989. In 1990-1991 he was of counsel to the firm of Bradley Campbell Carney & Madsen.
- From 1991 to 1996, Tymkovich was Solicitor General in the office of Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton.
- Tymkovich has been a named partner in the firm of Hale Hackstaff Tymkovich & Erkenbrack since 1996.
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- Tymkovich has put his views on federalism to work in attempting to end the already limited funding of abortions by the federal government. Tymkovich represented Colorado in Hern v. Beye, when the state was sued for denying a Medicaid-funded abortion to an eligible rape victim, contrary to federal law. Tymkovich lost in federal district court and again in a unanimous rejection by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Despite the plain language of the 10th circuit decision, Tymkovich appealed the case to the US Supreme Court, which refused to hear it. Three months later, Tymkovich told a hearing of the US Senate Government Affairs Committee that requiring Colorado to fund abortions for poor women in cases of rape and incest as provided by federal law was a "federal intrusion into matters of state concern."
- Tymkovich also sought to overturn a state court decision denying ballot status to a referendum that would have required notice to at least one parent before a minor daughter could get an abortion.
- Tymkovich attempted to make it harder for Title IX complaints in lawsuits alleging unequal treatment of female collegiate athletes. He argued in federal district court and in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that the evidentiary requirements for a complaint be made more onerous to complainants and he lost at both levels. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
- In a landmark gay rights case, Tymkovich defended the constitutionality of Colorado’s Amendment 2, a referendum question that would have barred any “statute, regulation, ordinance or policy” preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The state trial court ruled that the referendum harmed the fundamental rights of gays and lesbians to participate in the political process. The Colorado courts all concluded the referendum was unconstitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Amendment 2 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Nevertheless, Tymkovich continued his advocacy against the legal rulings in a law review article.
- Tymkovich is a member of the Federalist Society and has belonged to the Independence Institute, a conservative Colorado think tank that supports laws permitting concealed weapons and opposes affirmative action in higher education.
Alliance for Justice
Human Rights Campaign
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
National Organization for Women
(list in progress)
February 25, 2003
NCJW to Oppose Timothy Tymkovich for 10th Circuit Seat
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