Colorado expands lawsuit over alleged Trump retaliation

By Elyse Apel
The Center Square

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is pushing back on what his office labeled an “unmistakable campaign of punishment” by the Trump administration against the state.

Weiser said he updated a lawsuit the state filed against the administration with additional “threats and punishments” it made against the state.

“The U.S. Constitution does not permit the president to single out states for punishment based on their exercise of core sovereign powers. And yet, that is exactly what President Trump has done,” Weiser said. “The administration cannot punish Colorado into submission, and that is why we filed his lawsuit to fight for Colorado.”

The lawsuit was first filed in October, after President Donald Trump announced plans in September to move the U.S. Space Command Headquarters from Colorado Springs to Alabama. That came just months after it reached full operational capacity at Peterson Space Force Base in December. When Trump made the announcement, he did not specify why he made that decision, besides stating that Alabama “fought harder for it than anybody else.”

Colorado alleges the decision was made to punish Colorado for its vote-by-mail system. Weiser has now updated the lawsuit with a number of other actions the Trump administration has taken against the state, which it argued was set off by Colorado refusing to release former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in December—despite a pardon from Trump.

The lawsuit lays out the administration’s recent actions against the state, which include:

• Terminating $109 million in transportation funding.

• Ending $615 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding.

• Dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, located in Boulder.

• Threatening SNAP funding.

• Denying two disaster relief assistance requests.

Colorado alleges this is part of a “widespread campaign of retribution.” In its lawsuit, it argues that these actions violate the Tenth Amendment, the Elections Clause, state sovereignty, separation-of-powers principles and numerous federal laws. It asks that the U.S. District Court of Colorado declare all the detailed actions unconstitutional.

Since Trump took office, Colorado has been a critical player in the coalition of Democratic states fighting against the many cuts pushed by the Republicans.

In the past year, Colorado has joined or filed 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration. That is a rate of one every seven days.