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Senate approves bill to give Colorado two more federal judges
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Senate approves bill to give Colorado two more federal judges

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that would add judgeships to Colorado's federal trial court for the first time in 40 years. The bipartisan JUDGES Act would expand the size of district courts across the country in two-year increments over the next decade. Colorado's U.S. District Court currently has seven presidentially appointed judges, and the number under the bill would increase to nine by 2033. The Judicial Conference of the United States, which is the governing body for the federal courts, has repeatedly recommended Congress give two additional judgeships to Colorado based on caseloads. Data from 2022 showed 558 cases filed per judge on Colorado's federal trial court, a higher number than neighbo...
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City of Boulder sues FAA over 2040 airport closure dispute, claims ‘unconstitutional overreach’
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Approved, Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

City of Boulder sues FAA over 2040 airport closure dispute, claims ‘unconstitutional overreach’

By John Herrick | Boulder Reporting Lab The City of Boulder has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration in federal district court, challenging the agency’s assertion that the city must keep its airport operating indefinitely. The city claims the FAA is violating protections in the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on July 26, seeks a judicial declaration that would allow the city to legally close Boulder Municipal Airport by 2040.  This legal dispute is the latest development in a longstanding debate over the airport’s future. Boulder Municipal Airport, in the city’s northeast corner, primarily serves private pilots, trainees, glider pilots and researchers. Last summer, the city began considering whether to upgrade...
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Barbershop owner in Loveland sues city again over Centerra South development
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Approved, BizWest, Local

Barbershop owner in Loveland sues city again over Centerra South development

By Dallas Heltzell | BizWest A Loveland resident has filed a second complaint in Larimer County District Court involving the Loveland City Council’s actions surrounding the urban-renewal and financing agreements for the proposed Centerra South development. Barbershop owner Bill Jensen, who is appealing a district judge’s decision in March to throw out his complaint alleging that the previous city council’s votes to approve the agreements with developer McWhinney Real Estate Services were invalid based on open-meetings violations and improper notice, filed another complaint last week. Representing himself, Jensen’s new lawsuit contends that the council deprived him of transparency and violated open-meetings law when a quorum emerged from an executive session at 2:15 a.m. on Feb. 21...
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Legality of Colorado’s campaign donation limits to be tested by case with Greg Lopez as lead plaintiff
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Legality of Colorado’s campaign donation limits to be tested by case with Greg Lopez as lead plaintiff

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun A federal court judge will decide after the Nov. 5 general election whether Colorado’s state political donation limits for candidates are legal. In a trial that concluded Tuesday, three Republicans are challenging the limits enacted by voters in 2002 claiming they violate the First Amendment by limiting donors’ freedom of speech. They sued Secretary of State Jena Griswold in 2022 seeking to overturn the limits, though Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Kane rejected their attempt to suspend the limits immediately. Kane on Tuesday ordered attorneys for the plaintiffs, who work for the national nonprofit Institute for Free Speech, to file a summary of their case by Sept. 23. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office must file a response by Oct....
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Federal judge gives The Rock Church injunction against Town of Castle Rock to shelter homeless
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Federal judge gives The Rock Church injunction against Town of Castle Rock to shelter homeless

By Austen Erblat | CBS Colorado A Colorado church that sued the Town of Castle Rock over its ability to shelter homeless people on church grounds saw a win in court on Friday after a federal judge granted the church a preliminary injunction against the town. The Rock Church has sheltered homeless people in RVs on its property since 2019, calling it their religious duty to help those in need. But on at least three separate occasions, in 2021, 2022 and again in 2023, town officials blocked their efforts, saying they violated zoning laws. The church, in response, said this violated its 1st Amendment rights to religious freedom, as well as the Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act. In January, the church sued the town. "The Holy Bible specifically and repea...
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Federal appeals court says no to Biden’s student loan debt handout plan
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Approved, Fox Business, National

Federal appeals court says no to Biden’s student loan debt handout plan

By Eric Revell  | Fox Business A federal appeals court on Thursday issued a ruling that blocks the Biden administration from continuing to implement a new version of its student loan debt handout plan that is designed to reduce monthly payments for borrowers. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by seven Republican states to block portions of the Education Department's plan that a lower court judge hadn't previously blocked. Last month, a U.S. District Court in St. Louis blocked the agency from moving forward with granting additional student loan forgiveness under the Biden administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan – though it didn't block all elements of the plan. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX BUSINESS
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Morgan County case overturned on prosecutor’s improper commenting on defendant’s right to silence
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Morgan County case overturned on prosecutor’s improper commenting on defendant’s right to silence

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A Morgan County prosecutor undermined the fairness of a defendant's trial by making improper comments about his decision to invoke his constitutional right to silence, Colorado's second-highest court ruled last week. The prosecution charged Ronald Wayne Gentry with felony menacing after he allegedly put a bullet in the chamber of a gun and pointed it at a neighbor who was feuding with Gentry's mother. Jurors considered whether Gentry acted in self-defense, but convicted him. He received a sentence of probation, jail and community service. Jurors heard Gentry had received a Miranda warning but then agreed to speak with a sheriff's deputy. She told Gentry there were multiple eyewitnesses saying they saw Gentry point a gun, at which point Gentry ...
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Federal judge rules, ‘sideshows’ aside, no Colorado voter intimidation by ‘election integrity’ organizers
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Federal judge rules, ‘sideshows’ aside, no Colorado voter intimidation by ‘election integrity’ organizers

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A federal judge on Thursday concluded three civic organizations failed to provide evidence that the leaders of an "election integrity" effort illegally intimidated Colorado voters through a door-to-door canvassing project to search for election fraud in the wake of the 2020 presidential race. After three days of testimony, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney granted the motion to end the case after noting both sides seemingly wanted to litigate matters beyond the narrow question she had to decide. "It is not about the Jan. 6 insurrection or the history of voter intimidation in this country. It is not about the defendants' collective belief about election fraud. It's not about the security or lack of security of elections in Colorado...
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In Day 2 of voting rights trial, plaintiffs struggle to prove intimidation
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

In Day 2 of voting rights trial, plaintiffs struggle to prove intimidation

By Michael Karlik  | Colorado Politics The plaintiffs who are trying to prove an "election integrity" effort resulted in the illegal intimidation of Colorado voters ran into multiple stumbling blocks in federal court on Tuesday, including the aggressive questioning of the lone voter who claimed she was intimidated and the judge's skepticism about an attempt to introduce new victims at the last minute. Three civic groups — the Colorado Montana Wyoming State Area Conference of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Colorado, and Mi Familia Vota — sued the founders of U.S. Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), which was an organized effort following the 2020 election to visit voters at more than 9,400 homes to inquire about their registrations and past voting behavior. The plaintif...
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10th Circuit rules Sedgwick County liable for former Sheriff Hanna’s alleged assault of an inmate
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Approved, Law Week Colorado, State

10th Circuit rules Sedgwick County liable for former Sheriff Hanna’s alleged assault of an inmate

By Law Week Sheriff Thomas Hanna of Sedgwick County, Colo., allegedly sexually assaulted an intellectually disabled prisoner while transporting her between county jails.  The victim, Peatinna Biggs, filed this civil rights suit through her guardian ad litem, Hollis Ann Whitson, against Sedgwick County, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department and Hanna in his individual and official capacities.  The district court granted the motion of the county and the sheriff’s department to dismiss the complaint against them, reasoning that the county could be liable only if “the challenged conduct [had] been taken pursuant to a policy adopted by the official or officials,” and “Hanna’s actions were not pursuant to Department policies, but in direct contravention of them.”  Hanna was t...
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