Shannon Bacon

Bacon was featured in the 2025 Alliance for Justice Faces of Justice: Pride Report as an LGBTQ+ justice and was recognized as the first openly LGBTQ+ chief justice of a state supreme court after being elected by her peers to serve from 2022 to 2024.

Bacon stated that housing “is a fundamental right” and emphasized the need to address barriers preventing people from maintaining stable housing.

Ballotpedia’s 2020 Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship study classified Bacon as having a “Mild Democrat” confidence score based on an analysis of state supreme court justices’ partisan affiliations.

In State ex rel. Torrez v. Board of County Commissioners for Lea County (2025), in which Justice Bacon authored the unanimous opinion, the New Mexico Supreme Court considered whether counties and municipalities could enforce local ordinances restricting abortion providers and abortion-related materials. The Court held that they could not because the ordinances were preempted by state law. It explained that the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Freedom Act bars local governments from restricting access to reproductive health care, and New Mexico’s statewide medical licensing laws create a uniform system for regulating health care providers. As a result, local governments lacked authority to impose additional abortion-related regulations.

In Candelaria v. Grisham (2023), Chief Justice Bacon joined the unanimous opinion, in which the New Mexico Supreme Court considered whether the Governor or the Legislature controlled approximately $1.75 billion in federal ARPA funds. The Court held that the funds were subject to legislative appropriation because ARPA gave New Mexico broad discretion over how the money could be spent. Since the Governor would have to make policy choices about allocating the funds, allowing the executive to spend them unilaterally would infringe on the Legislature’s exclusive constitutional power to appropriate public money.

In State v. Zachariah G. (2021), in which Justice Bacon joined the unanimous opinion, the New Mexico Supreme Court considered whether a defendant “uses” a deadly weapon during an assault when the weapon is not physically displayed or handled but its presence contributes to the victim’s fear. The Court held that a defendant uses a deadly weapon when the weapon’s presence is intentionally used to facilitate the assault. The Court reasoned that a broader definition of “use” was necessary to distinguish mere possession from situations where a weapon’s presence is leveraged to create fear and further an assault.

In Grisham v. Romero (2021), Justice Bacon concurred with the New Mexico Supreme Court’s decision holding that the Governor and Secretary of Health had statutory authority to impose temporary COVID-19 business restrictions. The New Mexico Supreme Court considered whether the Secretary could lawfully ban indoor dining and whether the July 2020 public health order was arbitrary and capricious. The Court held that New Mexico’s public health statutes authorized emergency business closures when necessary to protect public health, and that the indoor dining ban was rationally related to reducing COVID-19 transmission based on scientific evidence and was therefore neither arbitrary nor capricious.

In Jones v. Albuquerque Police Dep't (2020), which Justice Bacon joined the majority opinion, the New Mexico Supreme Court considered whether the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) lets law enforcement agencies withhold records while a criminal investigation is ongoing. The Court held that it does not. It explained that IPRA only allows agencies to withhold records that reveal confidential sources, investigative methods, certain confidential information, or people accused but not charged with a crime. Because the Department of Public Safety did not show that the requested records fit those exceptions, it was wrong to withhold the records. The Court reversed the lower courts and sent the case back for further proceedings.