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Colorado Law mourns the loss of a stalwart in legal education and practice.

Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart—a longtime faculty member whose work influenced scores of students at the University of Colorado Law School—passed away Oct. 1, 2026, at age 57.
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Colleagues in the law school and broader legal community are remembering a scholar, educator, and judge whose career reflected intellectual rigor, deep reverence for the rule of law, and a tireless devotion to serving underrepresented communities.

“Melissa Hart’s legacy of service was substantial, both during her time as a professor at the University of Colorado Law School and later as a justice of the Colorado Supreme Court,” said Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss. “She will long be remembered for her engagements in support of access to justice.”

Hart grew up in Denver and graduated from East High School before earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College. A 1995 graduate of Harvard Law School, Hart clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Hart practiced law for several years in Washington, D.C., including as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, before becoming an educator.
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She began teaching at Colorado Law in 2000 and was named associate professor in 2001, beginning a lengthy faculty career that touched hundreds of students whom she taught and mentored in civil procedure, ethics, family law and more.
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She was the first to hold the Schaden Chair in Experiential Learning and served as director of the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law from 2010-2017. Hart established and led the Colorado Law chapter of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, a national program that sends law students into high schools to teach constitutional law, even leading high school participants to Washington, D.C., to participate in the program’s national moot court.��

During her career, she authored amicus briefs in employment discrimination cases under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court and in other cases before courts of appeals. She also represented clients through Metro Volunteer Lawyers—just a sample of the numerous pro bono activities where she lent her time.
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In 2011, the law school presented Hart with the Clifford Calhoun Public Service Award, granted annually to a faculty or staff member who makes notable contributions to the school’s public service mission. The following year, the University of Colorado awarded her the Chase Faculty Community Service Award.

After her appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2017, Hart continued educating students, teaching courses in Legal Ethics and Professionalism and Employment Discrimination as an adjunct until 2025.

Hart was also a leader in legal education nationwide, holding several leadership roles in several organizations, and was serving as chair of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar at the time of her passing.

A grandchild of Archibald Cox, a renowned legal scholar who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal, Hart remained closely connected to state and federal courts. She was involved in bringing numerous Supreme Court justices to the ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ campus to speak, including Justice John Paul Stevens in 2011 and Justice Elena Kagan in 2019.
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Although her career allowed her to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in the American legal system, those who knew her well say she was most at home as an advocate for the “underdog.” Much of her legal writing and practice was focused on issues tied to discrimination, bias, equity and access to justice.
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“Lawyers are problem-solvers,” Hart said in a 2017 Q&A for Colorado Law. “When you can work on solving problems that are the largest social problems, or the problems of people whose needs are the most significant, it feels like you are using the special skills and knowledge for the greatest good. There is nothing more satisfying.”
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Colorado Law and Dean Inniss extend our deepest sympathies to her family, friends and colleagues, who will continue to celebrate her prodigious impact and lasting legacy.��