Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: dUE pROCESS

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...
Aurora Limits Police Communication Raising Questions Over Public Safety And Transparency
Approved, Local, The Denver Gazette

Aurora Limits Police Communication Raising Questions Over Public Safety And Transparency

By Kyla Pearce | The Denver Gazette Proponents argue arestees have a right to privacy until adjudicated An Aurora City Council decision to alter social media policies for the police department has raised concerns from press freedom and public safety advocates, who worry that limiting what police can release to the public will impact safety and limit media professionals’ ability to access crime information. City Council members and local activists who support the policy changes, however, say they are not intended to limit information sharing, but rather to protect due process and limit what they describe as “harmful editorializing” in police communications. The resolution, which passed Monday with four “no” votes from the city’s conservative lawmakers, would bar Aurora Police Depart...
If the state can take property without a conviction, no property is safe
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

If the state can take property without a conviction, no property is safe

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Civil asset forfeiture began as a narrow exception in colonial maritime law, not as a general tool of domestic policing. In those early admiralty cases, the government often had jurisdiction over the ship or cargo, but not over the owner. The vessel might be in port, but the owner could be overseas, unknown, or beyond the reach of the court. In that circumstance, proceeding against the property itself—an action in rem—was often the only practical way to enforce customs law.  Justice Neil Gorsuch recently highlighted this history in his concurrence in Culley v. Marshall and asked the obvious question: if the government today has full jurisdiction over the person—if it can arrest, charge, and prosecute them directly—...
Lone Colorado Judge Sides With Government On Immigration Custody Rules
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Lone Colorado Judge Sides With Government On Immigration Custody Rules

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Chief Judge Daniel D. Domenico broke with his peers on Colorado’s U.S. District Court last week in siding with the government’s argument about the broad scope of its immigration detention authority. In an April 15 order finding that a man was properly in custody without a bond hearing, Domenico acknowledged his view is the outlier locally and nationally. “The majority of district courts, including all of the judges in this District who have addressed the issue, have found that detention of noncitizens similar to the petitioner under (the mandatory detention provision) is improper,” wrote Domenico, a first-term appointee of President Donald Trump. “There are legitimate arguments on both sides.” Beginning last year, ...
First In The Nation Reform Bill Limiting Unreliable Drug Test Arrests Signed By Polis
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

First In The Nation Reform Bill Limiting Unreliable Drug Test Arrests Signed By Polis

By C.J. Ciaramella | Complete Colorado DENVER–Colorado recently enacted a law protecting criminal defendants arrested due to roadside tests for drugs, becoming the first state in the country to recognize widespread instances of wrongful arrests due to police departments’ use of often unreliable field drug kits. Both chambers of the Colorado legislature unanimously passed House Bill 26-1020, and Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law on March 26. Under the new statute, police can no longer make arrests solely for misdemeanor drug possession based on the results of what are know as “colorimetric” field drug tests and instead must issue suspects a summons to appear in court. The act also requires courts, before a defendant enters a plea in a case where a field test was used, t...
Colorado Must Reconsider the Imprisonment of Tina Peters
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Must Reconsider the Imprisonment of Tina Peters

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The case of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters has become one of the most controversial legal and political episodes in modern Colorado election administration. But stripped of partisan rhetoric and competing narratives, the core issue before the public is far simpler—and far more troubling. Should an election official who believed she was preserving federally required election records spend years in prison for a disputed administrative decision? That question deserves serious reflection from every Coloradan, regardless of political affiliation. Public confidence in elections depends not only on accurate vote counts but on transparency in the systems that produce those results. When officials believ...
The Rorschach republic: The MLK test for a divided nation
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National, Think Again USA

The Rorschach republic: The MLK test for a divided nation

By Melanie Sturm | Commentary, Think Again USA Substack From ICE to Epstein to gender medicine, we keep seeing what we want in the ink blots. See if you pass the MLK Test. Same ink blot. Different realities. Do you pass the MLK Test? We are living through a Rorschach moment. We look at the same ink blots — the border, Epstein, gender medicine — and swear we’re seeing opposite realities. I was reminded of that recently when I found myself seated next to a gentleman at a luncheon. We discovered easy common ground: he grew up in Indiana, I grew up in Nebraska. We traded a few jokes about Hoosiers and Huskers swapping basketball and football fortunes. Then the conversation turned to Indiana’s former fiery basketball coach Bobby Knight, whom he idolized growin...
DUI arrest tests public trust as Aurora councilman keeps safety oversight role
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

DUI arrest tests public trust as Aurora councilman keeps safety oversight role

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice When an elected official is arrested, the expectation is simple: the law should apply the same way it would to anyone else. But public office brings added scrutiny that doesn’t disappear once the legal process begins. Those questions are now front and center in Aurora following the DUI arrest of Rob Andrews, who serves on City Council and chairs the council’s Public Safety, Courts, and Civil Service Committee. Since the arrest, Andrews has leaned heavily on due process, saying there are “inconsistencies” in how the incident has been described during the January 26 Aurora City Council meeting. The police report, body-camera video, and official responses show what happened — and why the public debate has shifted....
Red flag law expansion questioned as data shows wrongful gun seizures in Colorado
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Red flag law expansion questioned as data shows wrongful gun seizures in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Expanding red flag laws without fixing current problems I wanted to share David Kopel’s written testimony against the proposed expansion--the second time in two years for those keeping count--of Colorado’s Red Flag Law (aka Extreme Risk Protection Order Law). It’s linked first below.As he has done in the past, Mr. Kopel does a wonderful job of dispassionately laying out arguments against the gun control we’ve seen, often striking at the underpinnings and foundations of the law as well as the arguments made by legislators/others for it.I will leave it to you to read the op ed, but I will share a couple things that made it especially noteworthy to me.Besides the unproven (and probably unprovable) narrative tha...
Colorado appeals court orders new briefs after state flags statute oversight in Tina Peters case
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado appeals court orders new briefs after state flags statute oversight in Tina Peters case

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Court of Appeals has reopened briefing in Tina Peters’ criminal appeal after the state acknowledged it overlooked a key statutory issue while briefing and arguing the case. The appeal’s timeline changed on Jan. 29, when the Court of Appeals ordered a new round of briefing following a late filing from the Attorney General, a “notice of erratum” addressing the felony charge. 2026-01-29 C ORDER OF THE COURT Respond to ErratumDownload The question surfaced during oral argument earlier this month. Judges asked whether the felony conspiracy charge was tied to the correct version of Colorado law. After oral argument concluded, prosecutors revisited the statute. In a filing submitted January 23, the Attor...

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