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From Wyoming to Colorado: courts say corner crossing is legal
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Approved, National, The Fence Post

From Wyoming to Colorado: courts say corner crossing is legal

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post A ruling by a federal appeals court has concluded that a congressional act preempts a state’s power to impose and enforce its own trespass laws. Corner crossing, accessing public land from one piece to another where two parcels meet with two privately owned parcels without stepping foot on privately owned land, is now legal in the 10th Circuit’s six states: Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Kansas. A Carbon County, Wyoming, ranch owner sued hunters in 2022 for doing just that, arguing that he owns the airspace above his land, which they passed through to access public land during an elk hunt. The checkerboard pattern dates back to the days of railroad construction in the 1800s, when railroads raced to lay track, thereby laying cla...
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Gelman: Judges, stay in your lane and stay out of politics 
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Approved, Commentary, National, THE HILL

Gelman: Judges, stay in your lane and stay out of politics 

By David Gelman | The Hill , Commentary One of the best pieces of advice you can give anyone starting a venture is this: Be bold, but stay in your lane. In other words, know your role, understand what you don’t know and avoid straying into areas beyond your expertise. That’s advice certain federal district court judges would do well to heed — for the good of our republic and the health of the judiciary itself.  As the Trump administration moves forward with efforts to remove illegal immigrants, including violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members, the role of federal judges — specifically activist liberal district court judges — has come under serious scrutiny. While Democrats continue to distract their base with false narratives and manufactured crises, they conveniently igno...
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Walcher: Squirrels Killed by the Forest Service, or the Courts?
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Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher, Rocky Mountain Voice

Walcher: Squirrels Killed by the Forest Service, or the Courts?

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com In 2017 the Arizona Game and Fish Department estimated that there were only 252 Mount Graham red squirrels left. They only inhabited a few hundred acres in the 10,000-foot Pinaleño Mountains, not equipped to survive the heat of the surrounding deserts. Then, a lightning strike started a 48,000-acre fire in that section of the Coronado National Forest, incinerating all but 35 of the Mount Graham squirrels in existence. Federal and state wildlife officials thought the species faced likely extinction. It is a more common story than you might think. The Journal Science published a study in 2020 called “Fire and biodiversity in the Anthropocene,” analyzing the danger of wildfires to threatened and endangered species. Across nine taxonomi...
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Judge to decide whether Twitter missed rent in spat with Boulder landlord
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Approved, Courthouse News Service, Local

Judge to decide whether Twitter missed rent in spat with Boulder landlord

By Amanda Pampuro  | Courthouse News Following five days of trial over a lease dispute between Twitter and a Colorado landlord, a Boulder judge requested the parties provide additional briefing before she determines who breached the agreement with the other. “If the rent was due on Dec. 1st, then Lot 2 prevails. If the rent was not due, X Corp. prevails,” summarized attorney Damien Zumbrennen on behalf of X, formerly known as Twitter. READ THE FULL STORY AT COURTHOUSE NEWS
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Judge rejects Denver Public Schools’ attempt to block Trump ICE guidance
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Approved, Chalkbeat Colorado, Local, Top Stories

Judge rejects Denver Public Schools’ attempt to block Trump ICE guidance

By Melanie Asmar | Chalkbeat Colorado A federal judge on Friday rejected Denver Public Schools’ attempt to reinstate a federal policy that treated schools as “sensitive locations” where immigration enforcement should only take place if there is immediate danger to the public. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico said there is little practical difference between the prior policy, the last iteration of which was issued in 2021 under former President Biden, and a pair of memos issued by the Trump administration in January. “The concern was that there would be no limitations or no protections for schools, necessarily, under the new memo,” Domenico said in a ruling from the bench. “That is an overstatement. And the fact that there have been no actions on school property in the ...
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Colorado House’s Judiciary Committee advances bill to add 15 judges
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado House’s Judiciary Committee advances bill to add 15 judges

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Colorado's House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to establish 15 new judgeships throughout the state by a vote of 9-2 on Tuesday. Senate Bill 24 is the Judicial Department's top priority this year. As originally proposed, it would have added 26 judge seats in the trial courts and three seats on the Court of Appeals. The numbers did not come close to the projection calculated by a series of recent workload studies, which estimated Colorado needs approximately 43 more district judges, 20 more county judges and six appellate judges. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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In Department of Justice inquiry to Tina Peters’ case, the question is whether she is a political prisoner
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

In Department of Justice inquiry to Tina Peters’ case, the question is whether she is a political prisoner

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice If an election official was sentenced to nine years in prison, you might assume they had been caught stuffing ballot boxes or rigging results. But, what if they were convicted for preserving election records? That’s the case of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, whose actions led to a landmark prosecution — one that has now drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice.  Federal authorities are stepping in to review whether her sentence was excessive and whether her prosecution was influenced politically. The case also beckons scrutiny over the intersection of election integrity, the rule of law and the fair application of justice. The DOJ’s Statement of Interest, filed March 3 by Acting Assistant Att...
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Twitter, former landlord ask Boulder judge to decide who broke lease at Colorado office
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Approved, Courthouse News Service, Local

Twitter, former landlord ask Boulder judge to decide who broke lease at Colorado office

By Amanda Pampuro  | Courthouse News It took $40 million and two years to turn the 64,557 square-foot railyards building in Boulder, Colorado, into Twitter’s new flagship headquarters, complete with a kitchen, showers for bike commuters and a grand staircase down the center to connect all four floors. “There was no question that buildout was unorthodox,” attorney Jose Ramiez, who represents landlord Lot 2 SBO, said during opening arguments Monday. “One of the biggest issues the building is having now is that they cut a hole in the center of the building, they wanted all the floors connected by a staircase, but they cut through structural elements, so that has to go.” READ THE FULL STORY AT COURTHOUSE NEWS
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Prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters to be reviewed by Justice Department
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters to be reviewed by Justice Department

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it will review the Colorado case that led to the prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters. In May 2021, Peters was convicted of multiple felonies and misdemeanors related to a security breach involving election equipment at the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder's Office. The Justice Department's intervention is connected to a federal lawsuit Peters filed against the Larimer County Sheriff, seeking to be released from jail while the appeals process moves forward. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison, with six months to be served in county jail and the rest in state prison. She was convicted of four felonies, including three counts of attempting to influence a public se...
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Appeals court says state campaign finance enforcement framework is constitutional
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Appeals court says state campaign finance enforcement framework is constitutional

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Colorado's second-highest court agreed last week that the state's current method of adjudicating campaign finance complaints is constitutional and is not the "very definition of tyranny." For several years, state law has allowed any person to file a complaint alleging a campaign finance violation, which the Colorado Secretary of State's Office then screens, decides whether to dismiss or investigate, and potentially imposes a penalty. Legislators enacted the process after a federal judge decided in 2018 that the prior system unconstitutionally "outsourced" enforcement to individual, inexperienced complainants. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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