DONETTA DAVIDSON, in her official capacity as Secretary of State for the State of Colorado, v. KEN SALAZAR, in his capacity as Attorney General for the State of Colorado

No. 03SA147

COLORADO SUPREME COURT

December 1, 2003 Discharged

 

In 2000, the United States census reflected Colorado 's rapid growth of the 1990s and prompted Congress to assign Colorado one additional seat in the United States House of Representatives, bringing our total seats to seven. Because federal law requires each state to have the same number of congressional districts as it does representatives, the old redistricting plan, which contained only six districts, became illegal. See 2 U.S.C. § 2c (2000); Beauprez , 42 P.3d at 646. Consequently, when the federal government released detailed, block-by-block redistricting data in March 2001, the state General Assembly began the task of drawing new congressional districts. 1

The General Assembly was unable to pass a new plan despite meeting in its regular session and two special sessions. Therefore, the voters turned to the courts for relief, asking the Denver District Court to hold the existing six-district plan unconstitutional and to replace it with a valid seven-district plan. Avalos v. Davidson , No. 01CV2897, 2002 WL 1895406, at *1 (Denv. Dist. Ct. Jan. 25, 2002), aff'd sub nom. Beauprez v. Avalos , 42 P.3d 642 ( Colo. 2002).

The district court considered more than a dozen competing maps during a seven-day trial, and ultimately settled upon a new seven-district plan. See Beauprez , 42 P.3d at 645-46. The court, however, delayed issuing its decision in order to give the legislature yet another chance to pass its own plan during the 2002 session. Finally, after the General Assembly again was unable to act, the court announced its redistricting plan in time for the precincts to be set before the November election.

This court unanimously affirmed the district court decision, saying that the plan was "thorough, inclusive, and non-partisan." Id. at 647, 653. The plan did indeed end up being non-partisan. From six districts, the voters reelected the incumbent or a replacement from the incumbent's party, and the new seventh district was highly competitive. In fact, in 2002, the seventh district voters elected their congressional representative by only 121 votes out of 170,000 voters--the narrowest margin in the nation.

In the closing days of the 2003 regular session, the newly elected General Assembly enacted a new redistricting plan, Senate Bill 03-352 ("SB 03-352"). See Ch. 247, sec. 1, § 2-1-101, 2003 Colo. Sess. Laws 1645, 1645-58. The bill was introduced on May 5, 2003, passed by both houses on May 7, the final day of the session, and was signed into law on May 9.

On the same day that the Governor signed SB 03-352 into law, a group of citizens filed suit in Denver District Court, asking the court to enjoin implementation of the plan. 2 Keller v. Davidson , No. 03CV3452 (Denv. Dist. Ct. filed May 9, 2003). That case has since been removed to federal court, and is now on hold by order of the federal district court pending this decision. Keller v. Davidson , No. 03-Z-1482(CBS) (D. Colo. filed Sept. 25, 2003).

On May 14, shortly after the District Court case was filed, the Attorney General filed an original action in this court pursuant to the Colorado Constitution, Article VI, Section 3, asking us to issue an injunction preventing the Secretary of State from implementing the General Assembly's 2003 redistricting plan and requesting a writ of mandamus requiring the Secretary of State to return to the 2002 redistricting plan. Subsequently, the Secretary of State filed her own original action with this court, asking us to dismiss the Attorney General's petition. She claims that the Attorney General cannot bring an original proceeding in this type of case and cannot name the Secretary of State as a respondent because he is ethically obligated to represent her. We issued a rule to show cause in both cases. We now make the rule absolute in the case brought by the Attorney General and we discharge the rule in the Secretary of State's case.

 

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