Just the News reports that Colorado has repealed a recently implemented requirement that lawyers accessing the state court e-filing system certify, under penalty of perjury, that they would not use nonpublic court information to assist federal immigration enforcement. The article says the requirement, tied to SB25-276, was removed through HB26-1276 after legal scrutiny from groups including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and Judicial Watch, along with attention from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
That is not immigration policy. That is government arrogance wearing a robe. Colorado apparently decided lawyers should have to pass an anti-ICE loyalty checkpoint before accessing the courts, which is the kind of smug little pledge you expect from a campus activist committee after too much fair-trade coffee, not from a justice system that claims to care about due process, neutrality, and the First Amendment.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado required lawyers using the state court e-filing system to certify they would not use nonpublic court information to help federal immigration enforcement. Courts are supposed to be where rights get protected, not where lawyers recite the regime’s preferred bumper sticker before doing their jobs.
- Just the News reports the requirement was implemented only months ago, then repealed after public outcry and constitutional scrutiny started circling with a flashlight. Funny how fast “this is totally normal” becomes “never mind” once lawyers who know the First Amendment start warming up.
- FIRE reportedly said it was preparing to sue Colorado if the state did not reverse course. Translation: the policy looked less like justice and more like a First Amendment dumpster fire with state letterhead.
- The article compares Colorado’s lawyer pledge to federal agency settlement gag rules, including “no-deny” policies that required defendants not to question the government’s case after settling. Different context, same bureaucratic habit: compelled silence or compelled speech dressed up as procedure.
- Colorado’s quiet walk-back matters because today the loyalty test is about ICE, and tomorrow it is whatever political oath the people in power decide is fashionable. Government power does not become cute just because your side is holding the clipboard.
My Bottom Line
The most revealing part is not just that Colorado built the pledge. It is that somebody wrote it, somebody approved it, somebody implemented it, and then everyone seemed prepared to act like this was normal until constitutional scrutiny showed up with a warrant and a bad attitude.
That is the problem with our ruling class. They keep confusing power with wisdom. They believe the court system, the licensing system, the grant system, the permitting system, and every other public doorway can become an ideological checkpoint as long as the cause sounds progressive enough in a press release.
This is bigger than ICE. You can support strong immigration enforcement, oppose it, or have a complicated view somewhere in the middle. None of that changes the principle: access to the courts should not depend on political compliance. Lawyers should not have to pledge allegiance to Denver’s preferred resistance slogan to represent clients.
If your policy cannot survive daylight, maybe it was not justice. Maybe it was just political muscle in a robe. Colorado backed the truck out before the constitutional debris got too obvious, but voters should remember who drove it into the courthouse in the first place.
Source: Just the News
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