Colorado Supreme Court rejects redistricting measures

The Colorado Supreme Court unanimously rejected five proposed ballot measures on Monday that sought to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2028 election, halting a partisan effort to alter the state’s independent redistricting process. The court ruled that the proposals violated the state constitution’s requirement that ballot initiatives address only a single subject.

Three of the rejected measures were backed by Democrats and aimed to create a temporary map that would have given Democratic candidates a significant advantage, potentially winning seven of the state’s eight U.S. House seats. Two competing Republican-backed proposals, which would have tilted the map more favorably to the GOP, were also struck down. Currently, Colorado’s congressional delegation is evenly split with four Republicans and four Democrats.

In two separate but unanimous opinions, the justices found the measures attempted to bundle multiple distinct changes. Chief Justice Monica Márquez wrote that authorizing mid-decade redistricting while simultaneously adopting a specific new congressional map represented separate subjects. She described temporarily altering the redistricting...