Shawn Mitchell is a former Republican member of the

Colorado Senate The Colorado State Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of abou ...

, representing the 23rd district from 2005 to 2013. Previously he was a member of the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distri ...

from 1999 to 2004.

Background

Mitchell received a B.S. ''magna cum laude'' from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

and graduated from law school at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. He is now an attorney in a private law practice in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

and

Adams Adams may refer to: * For persons, see Adams (surname) Places United States *Adams, California *Adams, California, former name of Corte Madera, California * Adams, Decatur County, Indiana *Adams, Kentucky *Adams, Massachusetts, a New England to ...

counties. Mitchell served as Special Counsel to the

Colorado Attorney General The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the United States, U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Government of Colorado, Colorado state g ...

, where he was a legal policy advisor and one of the top aides to former Colorado Attorney General

Gale Norton Gale Ann Norton (born March 11, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 48th United States Secretary of the Interior under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006. A member of the Republican Party, she previously serve ...

. Mitchell participated in notable constitutional litigation, including Romer v. Evans, which challenged Amendment 2, as well as First Amendment cases concerning church-state separation. He also handled criminal appeals for the state in the Colorado Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Legislative career

Before serving in the senate, Mitchell served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1999 to 2004. He was elected in 2004 to represent Senate District 23. Mitchell won his campaign for re-election against Joe Whitcomb in 2008. Term limited, he did not run for re-election in 2012.

Controversy

Mitchell came under fire in 2010 for "sexist" and "degrading remarks". The comments were made at a formal hearing of the Workers' Compensation committee: Mitchell tried to comfort a nervous witness, by stating, "I just want to pass on a tip that sometimes when I'm in committee and I'm nervous I relieve that by imagining the chairwoman in her underwear." According to news sources Mitchell apologized saying his remarks were "inappropriate" and "unprofessional". Senator

Morgan Carroll Morgan Lenore Carroll (born November 24, 1971) is an American politician from Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, ...

accepted his apology.

Private life

Mitchell has also written for the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

website ''

Townhall.com Townhall is an American conservative website, print magazine and radio news service. Katie Pavlich is Editor. Previously published by The Heritage Foundation, it is now owned and operated by Salem Communications. The website features more tha ...

'

Mitchell is a former Senior Fellow at the

Independence Institute The Independence Institute (II) is a Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian think tank based in Denver, Colorado. The group's stated mission "is to empower individuals and to educate citizens, legislators and opinion makers about publi ...

, a conservative and free-market think tank in

. He continues to write and speak often on public policy issues. He has served as the president of the Colorado Chapter of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

. He also served 3 years on the Denver ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

'' Board of Editorial Contributors. Mitchell and his wife Yvette have seven children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Shawn Republican Party Colorado state senators American Latter Day Saints Brigham Young University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Republican Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly