On March 9, 2022, Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit joined the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies Colorado Law student group to discuss the role of judges and their clerks and to share his experience representing the United States in USAID programs at Kiev and Yalta in Ukraine.
“It was truly an honor to have one of the nation’s most respected jurists take the time to come and speak to our students,” remarked Professor Andrew Schwartz, Faculty Advisor of the Colorado Law Federalist Society chapter.
In 1982—as a third-year law student—Judge Tymkovich founded the Federalist Student Chapter at Colorado Law to increase the diversity of speakers at the school. A few short decades later, he returned to campus to share his passion and inspire the next generation of Colorado Law students considering careers in public service.
In front of a classroom full of attentive law students, Judge Tymkovich shared how he got his start as a clerk and went on to join the Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton as the State’s Solicitor General. When Norton became Secretary of the Interior, the Judge’s work with her in the capital led to his eventual nomination and confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
In addition to Judge Tymkovich’s discussion of clerkships—he has had over 100 clerks and hosts a yearly reunion with them in Breckenridge— he discussed his experience as a U.S. judicial representative in Ukraine. He shared photos from his travels in the region and spoke about the government officials he met with and what they are doing now during the Russian invasion. He shared that some wear fatigues and fight with the country’s defense forces; others, like the judge’s former interpreter, have taken shelter with their families.
Judge Tymkovich himself is of Ukrainian descent. His great-grandparents immigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled in Pueblo, CO where they ran a cattle business.