A Colorado trial court has issued a preliminary injunction suspending the operation of a gift ban called Amendment 41 passed by Colorado voters last November, on First Amendment grounds.
The gift ban has been the subject of fierce fights within the Democratic party in Colorado. One of the Plaintiffs, Anne McGihon, is a Democratic state legislator (full disclosure, my professional colleague), but the amendment was pushed by Common Cause and its main financial backer, Jared Polis, is a candidate in the Democratic nomination race in the Second Congressional District in Colorado (Boulder and the Mountains) to replace Democrat Mark Udall who is running for the U.S. Senate in Colorado in 2008.
Opponents have argued that the toughest in the country gift ban is overinclusive, impacting low level employees in situations unrelated to public policy. Supporters say it is being read to widely and enacted Senate Bill 210 in the 2007 legislative session in Colorado in an effort to tame the plain language of the bill.
The Court ruling in this case is far broader. It goes to the core of the measure the ban on any gift from a lobbyist to a legislator, noting that lobbyists are central to the modern legislative process and their link to the constitutional first amendment right to petition the government.