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Tag: First amendment

Federal Judge Says Colorado Health Officials Not Liable in Gas Stove Label Fight
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Federal Judge Says Colorado Health Officials Not Liable in Gas Stove Label Fight

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A federal judge last week dismissed the constitutional claim against leaders of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment over a 2025 law requiring health disclosures on new gas-fueled stoves. In June, Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1161 into law, which requires retailers of gas stoves to affix a “yellow adhesive label” that reads “UNDERSTAND THE AIR QUALITY IMPLICATIONS OF HAVING AN INDOOR GAS STOVE.” The label must also include a URL or QR code to a webpage created by the health department that provides “credible, evidence-based information on the health impacts of gas-fueled stoves.” The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers filed a complaint asserting a single First Amendment vi...
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Clerks vs. the Constitution: Why the CCCA’s Letter to Polis Gets It Wrong
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Clerks vs. the Constitution: Why the CCCA’s Letter to Polis Gets It Wrong

By A.L. Goodwin | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado County Clerks Association (CCCA) sent a letter urging Governor Polis to block the potential transfer of Tina Peters to federal custody. That request rests on unconstitutional assumptions and a series of demonstrably false claims—many of which CCCA Director Matt Crane repeated in his November 24, 2025 interview on 710 KNUS, spread across two morning segments — Let My Tina Go! and Should Tina Peters Be Pardoned? 1. Matt Crane falsely asserted that Tina was a flight risk and should not be out on bond pending appeal. “Tina certainly demonstrated before that she's a flight risk, right? So after the cyber symposium, in 2021 where she went and, you know, hid out … she was gone for at least a month after tha...
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Colorado’s clash with federal law: Why Tina Peters’ case poses a Supreme Court question
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Colorado’s clash with federal law: Why Tina Peters’ case poses a Supreme Court question

By RMV Editorial Board What began as a state prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters now sits at the junction of presidential pardon pertaining to federal election law and state authority. Colorado barred key evidence from the jury, sealed portions of the grand jury record, then fought to keep those materials from appellate review.  A recent analysis by Amuse asserts that the Supreme Court has never ruled on whether a presidential pardon can neutralize a state conviction when the conduct arises from a federal duty. Amuse also argues that when a state interferes with administering a federal election, those prosecutions become offenses against the United States—whatever the state calls them. https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1989394815616770528?s=46 Appe...
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Tina Peters Placed in Solitary as Officials Warn Polis Against Federal Intervention
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The Gateway Pundit, Approved, State

Tina Peters Placed in Solitary as Officials Warn Polis Against Federal Intervention

By: Brian Lupo | The Gateway Pundit In a disturbing update shared on X, the official account for 70-year-old Gold Star mother Tina Peters announced that she has been transferred to solitary confinement in the Colorado prison where she has been held for the past year. According to the post, Peters filed a grievance after a prison teacher allegedly told inmates that Peters “was never going to leave prison” and that the state would “never let her out.” When Peters confronted the teacher in the hallway, the teacher and several inmates reportedly began “antagonizing” her and “ganging up on her verbally.” https://twitter.com/realtinapeters/status/1991721475565343225?s=20 Colorado Officials Urge Gov. Polis to Block Federal Transfer At the suggestion of another inmate, Peters file...
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What unfolded during the uncertified transition
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

What unfolded during the uncertified transition

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Actions taken before the board was sworn in Florissant’s May 2, 2023 election put five new people on the fire district board, and the change was obvious right away. The newcomers had run together as a coordinated slate. Within weeks, their actions toward Fire Chief Erik Holt sparked a sequence of events that ended with his firing, a criminal investigation left on the floor—and a lawsuit now sitting before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is what happened after the election—most of which voters never saw.  For details on the election-day conduct that triggered Holt’s report to prosecutors, see our companion investigation. A board acting before it was seated The election hadn’t been certified yet because a civil challe...
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Clear on camera, dismissed on paper
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Clear on camera, dismissed on paper

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Inside the election case DA investigators said showed “clear violations”—and why the same office that prosecuted election fraud refused to touch it A fire chief knows what a five-alarm emergency looks like. When something is burning, he responds. He doesn’t wait for someone else to handle it. That was the mindset Erik Holt carried in 2023 when the security cameras inside his fire station began showing behavior that made him stop, rewind the footage, and stare. He believed he had uncovered an emergency worth reporting. He did not know that the alarm he pulled would be the only one the system refused to answer. The fire chief who didn’t look away Before Teller County voters ever heard his name, Holt was a fireman and a father. A caree...
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Free speech tested: Fort Lewis TPUSA students persevere with faith, composure—and resolve
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Free speech tested: Fort Lewis TPUSA students persevere with faith, composure—and resolve

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The first Turning Point USA event, “Debate a Conservative,” took place Oct. 16 in the Fort Lewis College Student Union, where police stood at the doors as a steadying presence. Jonah Flynn, a senior studying philosophy and Spanish, along with Charlie Parke and Isabella Trevino, who were working to start a TPUSA chapter on campus, had braced for hostility but insisted on dialogue. “People with opposite views asked hard questions, but we all talked,” said Zen Moreno, a first-semester transfer in environmental conservation and management who joined the chapter after attending the event. She said she felt compelled to step in, hoping to turn hostility into conversation and connection. Flynn recalled how tension turned to civility. “People came...
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School District Faces Backlash After Banning Bible Verse in Student Artwork
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BizPac Review, Approved, Local

School District Faces Backlash After Banning Bible Verse in Student Artwork

By: Chris Donaldson | BizPac Review A Colorado high school set off a free speech battle after it refused to allow a Christian senior to use religious imagery to decorate her personal parking spot in what she says is a violation of her First Amendment rights. Sophia Shumaker was only looking to express her faith when she submitted her original design depicting a shepherd, a sheep, and a Bible verse to Rampart High School, only to have it denied because the school’s guidelines prohibit anything that is “offensive, negative, rude, gang-related, political, or religious.” “The shepherd and the sheep, the 99 sheep basically represent the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go find the lost one,” she told Fox 21 News. https://twitter.com/FOX21News/status/1981405727550763392 ...
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Judge Demands Big Tech CEOs Explain Role in Algorithmic Censorship Push
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Reclaim The Net, Approved, National

Judge Demands Big Tech CEOs Explain Role in Algorithmic Censorship Push

By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net For the first time, design choices, not just direct speech, are being treated as moral acts in a court of law. Three of the tech industry’s most recognizable leaders, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Evan Spiegel of Snap, and Adam Mosseri of Instagram, will be required to testify in court early next year. The order came from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl, who ruled that their participation is essential in a lawsuit alleging that social media platforms were deliberately designed to harm young users’ mental health. Attorneys for the companies had tried to prevent the CEOs from appearing, arguing that earlier depositions and other executive testimonies already provided sufficient information. Judge Kuhl disagreed, stating, “The testimon...
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When lawmakers silence citizens, who holds them accountable?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

When lawmakers silence citizens, who holds them accountable?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Does legislative immunity mean CO legislators who cut people’s testimony off face no personal consequence? The Colorado Politics article below details a recent Federal appeals court hearing to determine what limits a legislator could place on a citizen’s speech without facing consequences. The case at hand stems from a couple of hearings back in the regular 2024 legislative session. The plaintiffs in the suit allege that lawmakers who cut off the mics of those trying to testify on bills relating to gender issues were illegally censoring them.** Quoting the article: “The plaintiffs have argued that Democratic committee chairs inappropriately cut them off while they were testifying because the witnesses re...
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