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.
Colorado legislators and judges have spent years attacking core free speech and associational rights. In the last election, the state attempted to strip President Donald Trump from the ballot with the support of a majority of its Democratic-controlled state supreme court. (The effort was later declared unconstitutional in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court. Colorado could not even get any of the liberal justices to support its actions).
The state is responsible for the efforts to force business owners to create products celebrating same-sex marriages. That effort led to the Masterpiece Cake Shop case and then the 303 Creative case. Even after losing earlier efforts against Masterpiece Cake Shop owner Jack Phillips, the targeting of its owner continued for years. That litigation proved to be a tremendous victory for free speech.
Colorado has also been leading the fight to limit the speech and associational rights of professionals and parents on “conversion therapy.” Recently, that effort led to another massive loss before the Supreme Court in Chiles v. Salazar, resulting in a resounding 8-1 rejection of Colorado’s position. It could only secure the vote of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
After that near-unanimous ruling against the state, Colorado responded by doubling down with legislation to expose any counselors engaged in conversion therapy to heightened legal liability, including waiving any statute of limitations. That case could also result in legal challenges as Colorado continues to spend a fortune on seeking to curtail free speech rights.
Now, the state is defending a new public accommodation law, HB 25-1312, that defines “gender expression” to include “chosen name” and “how an individual chooses to be addressed.”
As in past Colorado cases, the state secured favorable rulings from district court judges. President Biden-nominated U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the Colorado public accommodation law.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is appealing the matter to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on behalf of its clients, XX-XY Athletics and Born Again Used Books. Other appeals are also being brought in the matter.
At the same time, the state has moved forward on Senate Bill 25-276, which imposes a threshold condition for state e-filings that requires lawyers to certify annually “under penalty of perjury,” that they will not use “personal identifying information” from the system to help federal immigration enforcement.
The provision is vague on critical points in seeking to bar any information that might identify an individual or cooperating or assisting in federal enforcement. While the rule allows for compliance with federal law and court orders, it is leaves considerable ambiguity on the scope of the rule.
It is common for courts to consider specific motions to seal certain information, but such motions must state a legal basis for such withholding of information in a given case.
Lawyers have already objected to the compelled endorsement of the state’s anti-ICE policies as a condition to their representing their clients, as well as a bar on cooperating with federal authorities.
Denver Gazette investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger has been covering the story on limiting what is considered a public resource.
The Colorado Judicial Branch’s page on the law previously posted a statement that “In September 2025, some users may have briefly seen a certification requirement appear in the system.” It noted that the Judicial Department elected to take it down “for further internal and external discussion regarding the implementation of the new statutory requirements.” However, it announced implementation in March.
It stated that the condition would apply to any “third party” with access to the system – “certain attorneys, LLPs, and, in certain case types, pro se litigants”with access to information that is not “available to the public online, in person, or through a records request.”
It added “We recognize that some people may be frustrated by the requirements of this new legislation,” but insisted that the “judiciary is required to comply with the laws as enacted by the legislature and has worked hard to make the process as easy as possible.”
In my view, the law is facially unconstitutional and should be struck down. Regardless of the outcome on these challenges, Colorado appears hellbent on maintaining its dubious status as the most anti-free speech state in the union. Citizens will continue to subsidize this effort to defend laws compelling or censoring speech.
Colorado’s record is reminiscent of other blue jurisdictions like New York, Illinois, and D.C. in creating precedent in support of gun rights. In passing flagrantly unconstitutional gun control legislation, these Democratic legislators and governors proved a windfall for gun rights advocates in triggering a series of major Second Amendment victories, including New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen and Heller v. District of Columbia.
Colorado appears to be working to create the same legacy on the First Amendment. The state motto, “Nil Sine Numine” (Nothing without Providence), is fitting. For free speech advocates, Colorado has proven positively a godsend in its string of losses in seeking to gut the First Amendment.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
This column ran on Fox.com
I live in Colorado and went through the family court system. I was ordered that I cannot speak my native language to my own child whenever mother is present, including when I call my own child as mother can be within earshot. No testimonies about this, no evidence, no best interests of the child or no harm to the child findings on record. Just an order violating federal constitution. From a mother’s motion after the hearing concluded. Motion to correct or explain denied with one word. I was ordered many other ridiculous things. Then my own attorneys sued me after I ran out of money. Yes, my own lawyers. And they won. And then they asked for legal fees that were 5x of what they won. This was never about money. This was about caste system and coercion. That is today’s Colorado, ladies and gentlemen…
Fresh off SCOTUS loss, Colorado orders lawyers ‘under penalty of perjury’ to refuse ICE cooperation
“Colorado really, really likes doing ridiculous things to make good constitutional law,” said Stand Together’s Casey Mattox, who was senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom when the group helped Phillips win the Masterpiece Cakeshop case on religious hostility grounds.
“I sort of respect [Colorado] for the misguided zeal that gave us Masterpiece Cakeshop, [Smith’s] 303 Creative, Chiles v. Salazar and now, probably, this craziness,” Mattox said.
https://justthenews.com/government/state-houses/fresh-scotus-loss-colorado-orders-lawyers-under-penalty-perjury-refuse-ice?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=offthepress&utm_campaign=home
Why Is Vance Campaigning For Orbán???
JD Vance has railed against the EU, accusing it of blatantly interfering in Hungary’s upcoming elections, even as the US vice-president said he had travelled to Budapest to “help” Viktor Orbán win Sunday’s vote.
Speaking to reporters shortly after landing in Budapest on Tuesday, Vance’s tone was combative as he alleged that the EU was responsible for “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference” he had ever seen.
Vance, however, made no effort to conceal the reason he had arrived in the country five days before a heated election in which Orbán faces the possibility of being ousted after 16 years in power.
Vance’s attack on Brussels came amid mounting scrutiny over Budapest’s ties to the Kremlin. On Tuesday – after previous allegations that Russian intelligence agencies, along with disinformation networks with links to Russia, were working to sway the election in Orbán’s favour – it was reported that Orbán had told Vladimir Putin: “I am at your service” in an October call.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/07/jd-vance-eu-interference-hungary-election-viktor-orban
…………………………………..
America’s Vice President is campaigning on behalf of Putin’s spy in the European Union. And only a few weeks back, Marco Rubio made the same trip on Putin’s behalf. No wonder Ukraine is fighting for its life!
For the record, Hungary is NOT an economic or military power. Nor is Viktor Orbán really that popular. As this article notes, Orbán stands a good chance of losing this election.
But here in the U S, racist MAGA types see Orbán and Putin as champions of White Nationalist values. Which makes a total joke of the so-called ‘Russia hoax’. It was no hoax, as Vance’s trip makes clear. Trump is, and always has been a buffoonish stooge for Putin.
Anyone concerned with free speech should want nothing to do with Putin, Orbán and Trump.
Wow, this really is the time of day when the mentally ill come out and bray at the moon.
Nah, everyone is on the spectrum of normal. It’s Normal for people to lie. It’s on the spectrum.
.
Free speech is so old fashioned.
So there’s no regime change in Iran, we lift all sanctions against them going back decades, they retain missile and drone capabilities, they control the Strait and can charge tolls, and keep their enriched uranium.
So much for total defeat and “unconditional surrender.”
We should also give them Mar-a-Lago
So Trump accepted the 10-point peace plan that Iran proposed previously that Trump said was “not good enough.”
But now it is apparently good enough.
Art of the Deal.
Hard to believe this guy bankrupted casinos
Trump’s quickly learning that Iran puts up a bigger fight than a 13 year old girl
So are we back to taking Greenland, Cuba, Canada or someplace else tomorrow?
Replying to yourself AGAIN BOZO ANON!!
It’s easier to see now the reason St. Peter denied he knew Jesus three times …
Still waiting for real evidence of that accusation.
And nobody has found any.
Typical liberal democrat, keep posting lies like throwing spaghetti on a wall and hoping something sticks.
Try reading.
Crude oil prices dropped sharply Tuesday evening, falling well under $100 per barrel after President Trump said the U.S. agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran that Pakistan had proposed.
Pakistan asked for this.
Is this a bad thing or what?
who really gives a flying f you moron, you are stupid
He did not, but actually looking up the facts is too hard for liberals.
He sold the casino and was paid to have his name on it for a set time.
The new owners then ran it into bankruptcy some years later.
So trump had zero to do with his OLD and SOLD off casino going bankrupt.
How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions
https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/111078/documents/HMKP-116-JU00-20200929-SD002.pdf
“Though he now says his casinos were overtaken by the same tidal wave that eventually slammed this seaside city’s gambling industry, in reality he was failing in Atlantic City long before Atlantic City itself
was failing.
But even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.”
—
“He put a number of local contractors and suppliers out of business when he didn’t pay them,” said Steven P. Perskie, who was New Jersey’s top casino regulator in the early 1990s. “So when he left Atlantic City, it wasn’t, ‘Sorry to see you go.’ It was, ‘How fast can you get the hell out of here?’”
—
Trump is doing the same to America using the White House to funnel cash into his own pockets.
Have you been to Vegas lately?
Many are going broke.
Several iconic Las Vegas casinos have closed or face demolition, including the Tropicana and Mirage, as the industry shifts toward redeveloping older properties into modern, luxury, or residential-focused resort
On Facebook, some users express concern about the rising costs for tourists and a dip in visitor volume, suggesting that the Las Vegas experience is becoming too expensive, while others feel that the shift is a necessary, albeit painful, evolution
Who gives a fig. You idiot.
Yeah this happened in Atlantic City a few years ago too. The market was oversaturated at the same time that neighboring jurisdictions (i.e., Pennsylvania) allowed gaming, thereby increasing competition of the gaming dollar and drawing regular gamers away from Atlantic City. The great former Billion Dollar Revel Casino which opened among the late 2010s financial crisis later laid vacant, went through bankruptcies, lost its utility service, and years later had to open with new ownership and a new brand as “Ocean.” It was the biggest, newest, and most extravagant Casino on the Boardwalk and in the entirety of Atlantic City and it was a derelict for years.
Ignorant people pretend that a Casino prints money and you have to be a bad businessman not to make money. Gaming is one of if not THE most highly regulated industries which requires, for example, minimum payouts from gaming machines and taxes Casino earnings very heavily as a condition of a gaming license. Casinos have massive employment, overhead, insurance, and marketing costs etc. It only seems like a game from the outside – from the inside it is a cutthroat competitive market.
We should give them DF ANON!!
How many of their leaders are dead? Who if any are in charge.
The U.S. will “lift all sanctions . . .”
I’m sure it’s just an oversight, but you forgot to add a critical fact about those alleged peace conditions:
You have mindlessly listed *Iran’s* wish list. And then presented it as a fait accompli.
Those conditions have as much chance of being accepted by the U.S. and Israel as you have of being intellectually honest.
I have no sympathy for the Iranian Islamic regime but to all those hoping for the destruction of bridges, power plants, desal plants, how many hundreds of thousands, even millions, of civilians do you want to die a slow death?
Turn your hostilities towards your tormentors
I don’t think all the bridges and power will be destroyed. The Persians (about 60% of Iran’s population) have had good relations with Israel and the Jews. In Ancient times, they permitted and helped in the reconstruction of the Second Temple. I like them and so do the Israelis. The crazies in power represent only a small percentage of the Iranian people
Iran is a large nation, and the IRGC is concentrated mostly in Tehran. If any bridges and power plants are desroyed likely they will be aimed at the IRGC there and in small pockets elsewhere. The people of Iran need relief from the power of the IRGC, which kills them, ~30,000 in one day,
It’s not up to the US. Israel wants to destroy all the bridges and power plants in Iran and if the US won’t do it, Israel will.
I don’t think Israel “wants to destroy all the bridges and power plants in Iran.” It likes the people, Persian and others, but wants this Islamist government to end. It will focus on destroying the abilities of the government while protecting those of the people in the best way possible. 90 million people are under the brutal dictatorship of around one million, possibly less.
Meyer – I don’t know if you watch Mahyar Tousi, but he is on the journalistic frontline for this conflict. According to him, only 30% of Iran is even Muslim, and many of those are not part of the Twelver cult ruling (and ruining) the country. You may be right that it is around 1% of the population that are effectively enslaving the other 99%. It could be as high as 5%, but probably not much more than that.
Yes, I sometimes watch Tousi; thanks for the reference. The Shah tried to secularize Iran’s 90% Islam population, and today the Muslim clerics demand acceptance of Islam, so they report numbers close to 100%, but Tousi might be more realistic.
The twelvers are higher than 1%, but I think the 1% involves the security forces that Trump is directly attacking, hoping to find some less radical people to deal with. I don’t think he has found one yet.
“. . . civilians do you want to die a slow death?”
That has been their existence for 47 years, under a brutal, theocratic dictatorship. Now, they might have a chance at freedom.
The last time Iran had a chance at freedom the US overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran and replace him with a brutal tyrant who made countless opponents disappear with the secret police, Savak, back in 1957.