A federal court judge will decide after the Nov. 5 general election whether Colorado’s state political donation limits for candidates are legal.
In a trial that concluded Tuesday, three Republicans are challenging the limits enacted by voters in 2002 claiming they violate the First Amendment by limiting donors’ freedom of speech. They sued Secretary of State Jena Griswold in 2022 seeking to overturn the limits, though Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Kane rejected their attempt to suspend the limits immediately.
Kane on Tuesday ordered attorneys for the plaintiffs, who work for the national nonprofit Institute for Free Speech, to file a summary of their case by Sept. 23. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office must file a response by Oct. 23, with a reply from the Institute for Free Speech due Nov. 12.
Colorado limits individual contributions to $1,425 for statewide candidates and $450 for legislative candidates.
“Political speech is the lifeblood of democracy,” Institute for Free Speech attorney Ryan Morrison said in his opening argument.
Both sides called expert witnesses to support their arguments.
Attorneys for the state argued that Colorado has had limits on political donations for more than 50 years and that the “subjective desire to raise greater sums from a smaller pool of donors does not establish a constitutional violation” of free speech rights, according to a pre-trial filing earlier this year.
“Colorado candidates have sufficient resources to engage in core political speech, and … Colorado is markedly different from the states in which limits have previously been struck down,” that filing said.
Kane will rule on the case sometime after the final briefs are due.
U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez, R-Elizabeth, is the lead plaintiff in the case. He was elected last month to serve the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s term in the 4th Congressional District. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018 and 2022, and said he anticipates running for office again in 2026.