New Mexico chief justice reports 288,000 cases resolved, expands mental‑health, pretrial and tech initiatives
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Summary
Chief Justice David Thompson told listeners the judiciary resolved 288,000 civil and criminal cases in FY2025, achieved a 101% clearance rate, and described expansions in mental‑health diversion, statewide pretrial services and courtroom technology upgrades, including AI transcription.
Chief Justice David Thompson of the New Mexico Supreme Court told an audience he would review the judiciary's accomplishments and goals for 2026, saying, "288,000 civil and criminal cases were resolved in New Mexico courts in fiscal year 2025." Thompson said the courts operated efficiently and closed more cases than came in during the year, reporting combined clearance rates of 101% for district, magistrate and metropolitan courts.
Thompson emphasized several programmatic developments. He said competency diversion programs and assisted outpatient treatment programs were implemented in judicial districts serving nearly a third of New Mexico's counties, and that "511 people graduated from treatment court programs statewide in FY 25." He announced that coordinating regional planning under a new law would improve behavioral-health services in communities and rural areas within the Administrative Office of the Courts.
On technology and access, Thompson said the judiciary modernized "nearly a 100 courtrooms with integrated digital systems to upgrade audio and video and provide an AI powered speech to text transcription feature." He also said a centralized customer service call center handled nearly 92,000 calls; self-help centers assisted "tens of thousands" of people; and courts provided more than 50,000 hours of interpreting services in 87 languages via in-person and remote video conferencing.
Thompson announced the judiciary will publish data on a judiciary dashboard next month to increase transparency, and said the statewide expansion of pretrial services will be complete in 2026. He cited safe surrender events in Carlsbad and Tucumcari that allow people to clear outstanding bench warrants from any magistrate court in the state, and said the new Bill of Rights for adults under guardianship "helped clarify their entitlements."
Thompson outlined education and partnership efforts, noting the Court Education Institute now lives within the Administrative Office of the Courts and announcing a partnership with the National Judicial College to bring nationwide programs to New Mexico and to launch a new "To the Roots" advanced judicial college. He closed by pointing readers to the judiciary's 2025 annual report and his 2025 State of the Judiciary presentation on the New Mexico court website and by thanking "a remarkable team of more than 2,000 court employees and judges."
