Judge Michael Vigil

DPNM News:

ALBUQUERQUE – Members of the Democratic Party of New Mexico State Central Committee voted unanimously Saturday to place Judge Michael Vigil as the Democratic nominee on the ballot for the November 2018 general election.

 This vacancy had been created by the resignation of a justice of the Supreme Court after the primary filing deadline.

“I am very pleased that an outstanding jurist of Judge Vigil’s excellent ability and reputation has been selected to head our splendid team of Democratic judicial candidates,” DPNM Chair Marg Elliston said. “The Democratic Party of New Mexico is already hard at work to elect Judge Vigil and the whole Democratic judicial team.”

Michael E. Vigil is a judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals. He was appointed to the court by Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson and was sworn in March 7, 2003. He was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2012 to a term set to end Dec. 31, 2020. Vigil was elected by his peers to a two-year term as chief judge Jan. 20, 2015.

Vigil was a finalist for the vacancy on the New Mexico Supreme Court created by Justice Richard Bosson’s retirement Oct. 30, 2015  Ultimately Republican Gov. Susana Martinez selected Judith Nakamura to fill the vacancy.

Vigil graduated from the College of Santa Fe in 1973 with a political science major and a history minor. He received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1976.

Vigil began his legal career in 1976 as a staff attorney for the New Mexico Court of Appeals. He entered private practice in 1979, focusing on personal injury and medical malpractice. He was in private practice until his appointment to the Court of Appeals.