Court of Appeals' senior judge racks up 1,000 opinions, and counting

The state judiciary marked a milestone this month when New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge J. Miles Hanisee authored his 1,000th opinion in his 14-year tenure on the bench.

“I had no idea that I’d issued 1,000,” Hanisee said this week. “I had no idea that it was the most of an appellate judge in New Mexico.”

Hanisee, 57, said he expects to extend his record by writing additional opinions, should New Mexico voters choose to retain him next year.

“We’ll see if people want me to stick around any longer,” he said.

His 1,000th opinion was filed Nov. 12 in the case of a man who appealed his conviction of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The court affirmed the conviction.

“I love writing opinions,” he said. “I absolutely love it. I love the editing process. I love the collaborative aspect of it.”

The 10-member Court of Appeals decides cases in three-judge panels, who are appointed at random to a particular case. Hanisee notes that no judge writes an opinion in isolation.

“We have a tremendous collection of staff attorneys here, and those staff attorneys draft things for all 10 of our judges,” he said. Each judge also has two law clerks who are fresh out of law school who can help draft opinions.

To some extent, the volume of opinions bearing Hanisee’s signature is a function of his longevity on the court and the high volume of cases the Court of Appeals considers.

Former Gov. Susana Martinez appointed him to the Court of Appeals in 2011. And because the New Mexico Constitution guarantees a right of appeal, the court hears a large volume of cases, both civil and criminal.

Hanisee estimates the Court of Appeals hears 750 cases a year on average. It is often called on to settle issues involving public lands and water.

Hanisee worked for three U.S. Court of Appeals judges after he graduated from the Pepperdine University School of Law, then worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1996 to 2007, mostly prosecuting violent crime.

He also worked in private practice from 2007 to 2011 before his appointment to the Court of Appeals.

Hanisee was the junior member of the court for five years when his nine colleagues retired and he “shot like a rocket” to become senior judge, which he remains to this day.

Hanisee said he wouldn’t have turned down the chance to work for the New Mexico Supreme Court, but the opportunity didn’t arise. And he doesn’t regret his long tenure on the state’s second-highest appellate court.

“I’m super happy at the Court of Appeals,” he said. “We have a volume of cases that they don’t have. I like the volume of cases. I like seeing as many things as possible.”

Hanisee said he has some favorites among his 1,000 opinions.

In 2022, Hanisee found that wild horses, which are protected by state and federal laws, can’t be rounded up by the state Livestock Board and removed from their habitat if they happen to roam onto private property. He handed down the opinion in Wild Horse Observers Association v. New Mexico Livestock Board.

In a 2013 opinion, Hanisee established a charitable-use tax exemption for privately owned land along the Pecos River.

“With so many beautiful rivers in our state, this opinion is one I remember and am happy to have been able to author as a Court of Appeals judge,” he said of the ruling in Pecos River Open Spaces v. the San Miguel County assessor.

“You can get a sense for why I love the job,” he said. “It just touches on so much of life, and so much of New Mexico.”