The amended lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the administration unconstitutionally punished Colorado for exercising its sovereign authority over a state criminal matter — a case testing whether the federal government can use spending decisions to pressure states over a conviction tied to a sitting president’s political interests.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser amended a federal lawsuit Thursday, accusing the Trump administration of waging a “revenge campaign” against the state by cutting federal funds and ending programs after Colorado refused to release Tina Peters, a former Mesa County elections clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence for orchestrating a data breach scheme rooted in false claims about the 2020 election.
Weiser linked a series of adverse federal actions directly to the administration’s demands that Colorado free Peters and abandon its mail-in voting system.
The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson in Denver to declare that the administration unconstitutionally punished Colorado for exercising its sovereign authority — a case testing whether the federal government can use spending decisions to pressure states over a conviction tied to a sitting president’s political interests.
Background: The Peters Conviction
Peters, who served as elections clerk for Mesa County, was convicted in state court of orchestrating a breach of election system data. The scheme was driven by debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. A Colorado court sentenced her to nine years in prison.
Courts around the country and Trump’s own attorney general at the time found no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome of the 2020 election.
Trump has persistently sought Peters’ release. He posted “FREE TINA PETERS!” on social media Thursday. In a Dec. 31 post, Trump referred to Colorado’s Democratic governor as a “scumbag” and claimed the state’s mail-in voting system “makes it impossible for a Republican to win an otherwise very winnable state.”
Experts have said Colorado’s mail-in voting system is safe, secure, and legal, and that mail-in voting gives neither party an advantage.
Last month, Trump issued a symbolic pardon for Peters. His pardon power does not extend to state crimes, however, meaning the gesture carries no legal force over her conviction or sentence.
Peters is separately asking a state appeals court to recognize Trump’s pardon as valid. Her attorneys are due in court next week.
The Amended Lawsuit
Weiser originally filed suit in October seeking to reverse the administration’s decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. The amended filing, entered Thursday, broadens the suit to encompass additional federal actions the state says were imposed as punishment for keeping Peters imprisoned: dissolving a climate research lab, threatening to cut transportation funding, and withholding money designated for families in need.
“The purpose is clear: to coerce Colorado to end mail-in voting and to release Tina Peters from prison. When the threats alone did not work, the Trump Administration followed through, employing various punishments against Colorado for its exercise of sovereign powers,” state attorneys said in Thursday’s filing.
“I recognize this is a novel request, and that’s because this is an unprecedented administration,” Weiser said at a news conference. “We’ve never seen an administration act in a way that is so flatly violating the Constitution and disrespecting state sovereign authority.”
White House Response
The White House declined to confirm any link between the federal spending decisions and the Peters case. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote in an email that “President Trump is using his lawful and discretionary authority to ensure federal dollars are being spent in a way that aligns with the agenda endorsed by the American people when they resoundingly reelected the President.”
The administration had not formally responded to the claims in the amended lawsuit as of Thursday.