Happy Labor Day!  We hope you had a great holiday weekend.  As you jump back into your routine, here are your public-law highlights:

• Hickenlooper is out; but Hickenlooper is in.  Former Governor John Hickenlooper officially ended his presidential bid, but he won’t be fading from the lime light.  Just a few days later, he announced that he would run in the Democratic primary to challenge Cory Gardner for his Senate seat in 2020.

• Campaign contribution results in due process violation.  A judge recently held that a Larimer County Commissioner violated due process by acting on a land-use petition after receiving a significant campaign contribution from an interested party.  Attorney Chris Jackson is quoted in the Colorado Sun’s coverage of the decision.

• Tenth Circuit issues two major decisions.  In Baca v. Colorado Department of State, the federal appeals court held that presidential electors have discretion over who they vote for, and Colorado violated their rights in the 2016 election. (Background on the case is available here.)  And in Semple v. Griswold, the court upheld the Amendment 71, which makes it more difficult to amend the Colorado Constitution through the initiative process.

• Stapleton wins case against signature-gathering firm.  Former Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton won a $235,000 award against Kennedy Enterprises, his former signature-gathering firm.  The court found that the firm had failed to adequately investigate claims that one of the people gathering signatures did so unlawfully.