Carroll continued his education, entering in and graduating from the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver in 2005 with a Juris Doctor.

[7] He is also an opinion columnist for the Denver Post and a Distinguished Guest Lecturer in the Master of Public Policy program at the University of Redlands in California.

[8] Carroll represented district 7 in northeast Denver and has served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Assistant Majority Leader.

He decided to run for speaker in November 2008, after the front runner for the job, Representative Bernie Buescher, was upset in his re-election bid.

[10] He was also the original sponsor of the bill that established the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway on Colorado's Interstate 70 to honor the African American flyers that served during World War II.