Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Constitutional rights

Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Federal Gun Ban For Marijuana Users
The Federalist, Approved, National

Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Federal Gun Ban For Marijuana Users

By: Shawn Fleetwood | The Federalist The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held on Thursday that the federal government’s use of a federal law restricting gun possession for certain unlawful drug users to be “inconsistent with the Second Amendment.” “The Second Amendment protects the right of ‘all Americans’ to keep and bear firearms for self defense,” the court’s “narrow” ruling reads. “Affording the government ‘broad power to designate any group as dangerous and thereby disqualify its members from having a gun’ would risk allowing it to ‘quickly swallow’ the Second Amendment.” Known as U.S. v. Hemani, the case centers around the government’s prosecution of Ali Hemani, a Texas resident who was charged under a provision (18 U.S. Code § 922(g)(3)) ...
School Board Pays $95K After Censoring Student Tribute to Charlie Kirk
The Christian Post, Approved, National

School Board Pays $95K After Censoring Student Tribute to Charlie Kirk

By Michael Gryboski | The Christian Post Officials violated student's First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights. A North Carolina school district has agreed to pay $95,000 in attorneys' fees and damages after censoring an on-campus student tribute to conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk. Last year, a high school student and her parents sued the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education over a painted tribute to Kirk that was removed shortly after it was completed.   The nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the student, announced Monday that it had reached a settlement with school district officials over the lawsuit. Per the settlement, the board of education agreed to pay $95,000 in assorted fees...
An open letter to the 10th Circuit on free speech and the First Amendment
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

An open letter to the 10th Circuit on free speech and the First Amendment

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The 10th Circuit of Court of Appeals got it wrong on free speech -- an open letter Similar to what Lincoln said of himself — I’m a slow walker but I don’t walk backwards — I often get busy with life and have to shelve writing projects without letting them go. I wrote back in early May about a decision rendered by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on legislative immunity. That newsletter is linked first below. The second link is to the judge’s decision. At the time, I wrote the clerk of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and asked how it was that one could send in feedback to the judges on their decision. The clerk said that you can either email them to [email protected], or mail them to the ...
Colorado Quietly Repeals Anti-ICE Loyalty Pledge Imposed on Lawyers Following Constitutional Scrutiny
Just The News, Approved, State

Colorado Quietly Repeals Anti-ICE Loyalty Pledge Imposed on Lawyers Following Constitutional Scrutiny

By Greg Piper | Just the News Centennial State quietly eliminates anti-ICE loyalty oath it imposed on lawyers ahead of promised lawsuit. Justice Department still defending constitutionality of settlement gag orders even after SEC, CFTC disavow them. Colorado imposed a loyalty oath on lawyers as a condition of access to the state's court system, pledging they would not assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some federal agencies required defendants to accept gag orders as a condition of civil settlements, pledging they would not question the government's case, no matter how weak they thought it. These speech mandates, some going back more than 50 years, have come crashing down in recent weeks as The Centennial State opts against further cementing its reputation as ...
I won’t surrender my speech rights: Why I’m challenging Colorado’s gender identity mandates
Fair For All, Approved, Commentary, State

I won’t surrender my speech rights: Why I’m challenging Colorado’s gender identity mandates

By Laureen Boll | Commentary, Fair For All As Colorado expands protections for gender identity, concerns about free speech, privacy, and compelled expression grow. I consider myself a law-abiding person. I’ve never seen a jail cell, I’ve never been sued. I’ve gotten one speeding ticket (I was driving to the airport and was concerned I would miss my flight) and two parking tickets (both times were unintentional). I begrudgingly pay my taxes — on time and always respect the rights of others. So why am I, of all people, formally notifying my employer that I won’t comply with their policy on “respectful treatment” in the workplace? Because it demands that I use names and pronouns to affirm a gender identity I do not believe exists. My refusal isn’t about disrespect. It’s about...
When government defrauds the citizen, it forfeits its moral claim to tax him
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

When government defrauds the citizen, it forfeits its moral claim to tax him

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice There comes a point at which taxation ceases to be civic contribution and becomes state extraction. That point is reached when citizen taxpayers are defrauded by their own government, when public money is lost, stolen, concealed, misdirected, or protected through official corruption, and when the same government that demands payment from the citizen refuses justice to the citizen. A government that takes from the people under color of law, then shields the corrupt from consequence, has not merely mismanaged funds. It has broken a covenant with the governed. The issue is deeper than waste. Waste is incompetence. Fraud is betrayal. Waste says the government failed. Fraud says the government used the public trust as a pri...
Sheriffs and Prosecutors Push Back Against Democrat Governors’ Leftist Agendas
Just The News, Approved, National

Sheriffs and Prosecutors Push Back Against Democrat Governors’ Leftist Agendas

By Nicholas Ballasy | Just the News In Maryland and Virginia, disputes over immigration enforcement and firearms restrictions exposed widening tensions between Democratic state leaders and local law enforcement officials. wo Democrat governors trying to advance progressive policies on immigration and gun control are facing pushback from local law enforcement, with sheriffs and prosecutors in Maryland and Virginia openly resisting portions of the states’ new agendas. In Maryland, a majority of the state’s elected sheriffs filed a federal lawsuit challenging the newly enacted Community Trust Act, a law backed by Democrat Gov. Wes Moore that limited cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities.  The sheriffs argued t...
Court Rules ICE Failed To Follow Warrantless Arrest Limits In Colorado
DENVER7, Approved, State

Court Rules ICE Failed To Follow Warrantless Arrest Limits In Colorado

By Jessica Porter | Denver7 Agents are now barred from warrantless arrests pending mandatory training. DENVER — A federal judge has ruled that ICE violated a court order and the law by continuing to make unlawful warrantless arrests in Colorado. The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit in October 2025 on behalf of four plaintiffs, alleging Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and detained people without warrants to fulfill quotas set by the Trump administration. Federal law only allows ICE agents to make warrantless arrests if an individual is a flight risk. In November 2025, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction barring ICE from making warrantless arrests in Colorado. On May 12, a Colorado District Court judge ruled that...
A Rodney King-era civil rights law drives the federal lawsuit over Colorado’s magazine ban
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A Rodney King-era civil rights law drives the federal lawsuit over Colorado’s magazine ban

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado's magazine ban has been challenged before. The surprise this time is not the Second Amendment argument. It is the DOJ’s decision to use a federal civil-rights law traditionally aimed at police misconduct investigations to make it. On May 5, federal attorneys filed against Denver over its assault-weapons ban. The next morning, they were back in court with another complaint—this one against the state, over the 15-round magazine limit. The law driving both lawsuits came out of the aftermath of Rodney King. Congress passed §12601 in 1994 after Los Angeles erupted in riots, giving the federal government authority to intervene when police departments repeatedly violated constitutional rights. DOJ has used the law fewer than 100 times in t...

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