Judge Mary A. Celeste

Judge Mary A. Celeste recently sat on the Denver Court bench as the Presiding Judge in 2009 and 2010. Mary is extremely proud to be the first women and member of the LGBT community to hold this position in the history of that Court. As the founder of the Colorado Legal Initiatives Project, the non-profit organization which spearheaded Colorado’s resulting Amendment 2, Judge Mary Celeste played an instrumental role in the U.S. Supreme Court case Romer v. Evans.

In addition, Judge Celeste was the co-founder of Denver's Sobriety Court, chaired the American Bar Association’s National Conference on Specialty Courts, Criminal Justice Group Committee and chairs the Colorado Interagency Task Force on Drunk and Impaired Driving. She has served as the President of the American Judges Association, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association Foundation, and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

A graduate of California Western School of Law, Judge Mary A. Celeste was the Editor-in-Chief of the law school journal. Judge Celeste continued to publish many legal articles in various periodicals including the 2010 AJA White Paper in the AJA Court Review. Judge Mary. A Celeste is one of the preeminent speakers in the country on the topics of drugged driving and marijuana and its impact on the law.