Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: First amendment

Colorado Faces Backlash Over Law Limiting Attorney Cooperation With Federal Authorities
Fox News, Approved, Commentary, National

Colorado Faces Backlash Over Law Limiting Attorney Cooperation With Federal Authorities

By Jonathan Turley | Commentary, Fox News New law forces lawyers to certify they won't share court data with immigration officials. Colorado's tourism slogan, "It's Our Nature," has a menacing meaning for free speech advocates. Colorado is now arguably the most anti-free speech state in the union, pushing an array of measures attacking those with opposing social and political views. The irony is that the state has proved a bonanza for free speech with spectacular legal failures that reaffirmed rather than restricted the First Amendment. Now, the Democratic legislature and governor are back with new unconstitutional measures, including a requirement that lawyers not share information with federal immigration officials as a condition for filing with state courts. ...
Federal Disinformation Initiative Flagged For Targeting U.S. Media Despite Assurances
The Federalist, Approved, National

Federal Disinformation Initiative Flagged For Targeting U.S. Media Despite Assurances

By Margot Cleveland | The Federalist The evidence uncovered during litigation should shake Americans awake to the threat to their liberties. Staff with the Global Engagement Center (“GEC”) told a State Department official that its testbed platform “will NOT focus on US audiences,” but then proceeded to fund a trial targeting The Blaze — a Texas-based media outlet. The Federalist uncovered this detail during discovery in its lawsuit against the State Department and the GEC, which the plaintiffs settled last week after the Defendants agreed to detailed prophylactic measures to prevent similar violations of Americans’ First Amendment rights. The Federalist, along with The Daily Wire, sued the State Department and GEC in December of 2023, after learni...
Colorado lawmakers move to sidestep Supreme Court ruling on therapy speech
Sey Anything, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado lawmakers move to sidestep Supreme Court ruling on therapy speech

By Jennifer Sey | Commentary, Sey Everything The Colorado legislature is attempting to sidestep the Supreme Court ruling with a new "conversion therapy" lawsuit bill The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 31, 2026, in Chiles v. Salazar (8-1 decision, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting) that Colorado’s 2019 ban on “conversion therapy” for minors violates the First Amendment’s free-speech protections as applied to talk therapy. (I wrote about it here.) The Supreme Court’s ruling said the Colorado law was unconstitutional because it constituted “viewpoint discrimination.” The Supreme Court made it clear that talk therapy is protected speech, not “conduct.” But Colorado refuses to accept the Supreme Court’s ruling. Instead, the insane state that I l...
Attorneys raise concerns over certification tied to Colorado court system access
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Attorneys raise concerns over certification tied to Colorado court system access

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado attorneys are starting to push back after a certification prompt began appearing when they log into the state’s court e-filing system. The requirement traces back to Senate Bill 25-276 and related statutes, including C.R.S. § 24-74-105, which deal with how the state handles nonpublic personal identifying information. Under that law, access to certain data comes with a certification—made under penalty of perjury—about how it will be used. On paper, the statute applies broadly to third parties accessing protected data. In practice, though, the certification has now been built into Colorado Courts E-Filing (CCE), meaning attorneys are being asked to agree to it just to get into the system. What the law require...
Tina Peters convictions upheld, sentence thrown out and case sent back to Mesa County court
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Tina Peters convictions upheld, sentence thrown out and case sent back to Mesa County court

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Tina Peters remains convicted—but the case that made her a national figure isn’t over. A Colorado appeals court upheld every conviction against the former Mesa County clerk Thursday, while also throwing out her sentence and ordering resentencing after finding the trial judge improperly weighed her speech about election fraud. The court laid it out over 78 pages—and shut down almost every major argument Peters brought forward. Judges rejected her claim that a presidential pardon could wipe out state convictions. They also rejected her argument that she was acting under federal authority. The convictions stayed. But the sentence didn’t. The ruling leaves Peters’ criminal convictions fully intact while reopening one of the m...
High Court Strikes Down Colorado Therapy Law in 8-1 Free Speech Ruling
The Daily Signal, Approved, State

High Court Strikes Down Colorado Therapy Law in 8-1 Free Speech Ruling

By Fred Lucas | The Daily Signal The Supreme Court held in an 8-1 ruling on Tuesday that a Colorado ban on “conversion therapy” for counselors unlawfully regulates speech and is viewpoint discrimination.  Justice Neil Gorsuch, a President Donald Trump appointee, issued the majority opinion. Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor—both appointees of President Barack Obama—issued concurring opinions.  Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—an appointee of President Joe Biden—dissented.  The Chiles v. Salazar case involved a challenge to a Colorado law that allows licensed counselors to address issues of sexuality and gender only from the state’s approved perspective.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DAILY SIGNAL
Federal Decree Limits Government Role In Social Media Moderation
Just The News, Approved, National

Federal Decree Limits Government Role In Social Media Moderation

By Greg Piper | Just the News 10-year agreement binds surgeon general, CDC, DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Feds agree not to stop Louisiana, Missouri and individual plaintiffs from seeking attorney's fees as "prevailing parties." Nearly two years after the Supreme Court killed free speech, in the telling of future National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, by letting the Biden administration resume pressuring tech platforms to censor disfavored narratives on COVID-19, elections and Hunter Biden, the Trump administration has made the plaintiffs' wildest dreams come true. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, who imposed the sweeping preliminary injunction on the feds before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals n...
He reported election irregularities. Weeks later he was fired: Now a Colorado fire chief appeals in federal court
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

He reported election irregularities. Weeks later he was fired: Now a Colorado fire chief appeals in federal court

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Erik Holt says he didn’t expect reviewing surveillance footage from a polling location inside the Florissant fire station would cost him his career. Holt says the fallout came quickly. Within weeks of providing investigators the footage he believed showed election rule violations, he was out of a job. The dispute that began inside the Florissant fire station is now before the federal appeals court. Judges will review whether reporting suspected wrongdoing can cost a public employee his job. Holt is no longer fighting the appeal alone. Mountain States Legal Foundation has joined the case and is now representing him. “Public employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they take a government job,” said Grad...
“Apologize to the Constitution”: House rejects amendment on 3D gun bill
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

“Apologize to the Constitution”: House rejects amendment on 3D gun bill

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The debate over 3D-printed firearms took an unexpected turn Friday when Rep. Scott Bottoms stepped forward with a constitutional warning. House Bill 26-1144 would ban the 3D printing of firearms and certain gun parts. Bottoms said if it violates the Constitution, it should fall. His amendment would have required the entire measure to rise or fall as one. The amendment failed after a standing division vote. “I would like to apologize to the Constitution for what we just did to it,” Bottoms said. The vote marked the most dramatic moment in a lengthy second reading debate over a bill that would make it illegal to 3D print firearms and certain gun parts, and restrict the sharing of digital files used to produce th...
Vermont Drops Requirement To Affirm Gender Identity For Foster License Approval
Just The News, Approved, National

Vermont Drops Requirement To Affirm Gender Identity For Foster License Approval

By Greg Piper | Just the News Vermont settles two lawsuits before appeals court can strike down policy conditioning foster placements, renewals on affirming gender ideology. "We must ban" removals and transitions against parents' will "immediately," Trump says. Solidly Democratic states are coming to the realization that excluding foster-care applicants based on their refusal to treat children as the opposite sex may not be a wise choice.   Vermont gave up its policy of scrutinizing would-be and current foster parents' religious beliefs for inconsistency with gender ideology to settle two First Amendment lawsuits before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could rule, issuing sweeping new guidance last week that protects applicants from violating their conscien...