Your Colorado spelling bee correspondent here to report this breaking news: We've got one CO kid left in the @scrippsbee.bsky.social, and he's headed to the semifinals tonight! Let's go, Nikhil! www.denverpost.com/2026/05/27/s... via @denverpost.com

Criminal defense attorneys are decrying the new leader of Colorado's Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel and criticizing a culture shift within the agency that they believe could undermine defendants’ constitutional rights. "This is a disaster," one lawyer says. "Disaster.”

If Kendall Roy were governor:

ICE plans for Hudson facility uncertain as Michael Bennet proposes law to limit new detention centers

Lost with no documents, immigrants released from ICE’s Aurora detention center rely on nonprofit for help

In the past couple of weeks, Colorado’s federal judges have confronted violations of their orders or, at minimum, questionable compliance in several immigration habeas cases. Some are willing to give the govt. a second (or third chance). Others are not: www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/05/22/f...

"The loss of a primary source of income, coupled with the federal government’s efforts to keep many immigrants indefinitely detained, has spurred families like Cecilia’s — and detainees like her husband — to stop fighting and leave the country." // Story by @sethklamann.bsky.social

5 former Costilla County sheriff employees told me that they received scant training for the job. Many deputies never completed reports after crimes, they said. Evidence in a murder case went missing. www.denverpost.com/2026/05/22/c...

On a single day this month, Judge Nina Wang of Colorado directly released three men in immigration detention because: -an immigration judge violated her order -ICE violated its regulations/the petitioner's due process rights -ICE unlawfully arrested the petitioner

I think this is partly true. But Polis’ office has worked to tamp down this kind of public dissent before, and part of the reason why he did this after session ended is so the legislature couldn’t take this exact vote.

Nearly 90% of the Colorado Democratic Party's central committee members tonight voted to formally censure Gov. Jared Polis for reducing election denier Tina Peters’ prison sentence // Story by @coltrain.bsky.social

Tina Peters’ lawyer told us today that she wasn’t expressing contrition for her crimes and that she was unjustly targeted by a “globalist judge” in a “captured state,” as VP Vance said Peters should qualify for a share of the DOJ’s new $1.77 billion settlement fund:

This wasn’t going to happen anyway, even before Peters — see below — but Bennet makes it official and public:

The complaint asks the party to formally censure and condemn the governor for “conduct detrimental to the interests of the Colorado Democratic Party.”

Yep. Heard this particularly after the debate, when both failed to do much to differentiate themselves or provide some firm indication of how they would be different from Polis, for whom progressives have little love.

It’s hard to square Polis’ concerns about overly long sentences with his own, very recent history: www.denverpost.com/2026/01/16/c...

New: A wave of elected officials, primarily from Polis’ party, castigated the governor for reducing Peters’ sentence. The county clerks association said that the move would define Polis’ legacy. With @coltrain.bsky.social: www.denverpost.com/2026/05/15/t...

Other thing to note: Polis is doing this just before bill-signing season, when he and lawmakers hold events across the state to sign bills into law. It’ll be interesting to see whether this impacts legislators’ willingness to cheese it up in a photo op with him.

🚨Gov. Polis is commuting Tina Peters’ sentence, making her eligible for parole on June 1 — ~30 months earlier than her original sentence. Polis gives a huge break to a election-conspiracist and ally of Donald Trump, before a judge has a chance to resentence her: www.denverpost.com/2026/05/15/t...

Colorado's federal judges typically decide immigration habeas petitions rapidly -- in as few as 8 days after filing. Overwhelmingly, they side with the detained petitioners. But Chief Judge Dan Domencio is letting people sit in detention without a decision:🧵 www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/05/13/a...

The Colorado House of Representatives have adjourned sine die. That’s it for the 2026 legislative session (inevitable special session not withstanding). Thanks for following along, friends.

"The 30% of families that were lifted out of poverty because of Colorado’s most aggressive anti-poverty tax credits are now going to be plunged back into poverty,” bill sponsor Rep. Lorena Garcia said. “I wonder if the governor feels good about that.” Gift link

Veto threat from Polis kills an attempt to revive 'most effective' anti-child poverty tax credit. Polis wanted another income tax cut in exchange for a program proven to slash child poverty, per @coltrain.bsky.social: www.denverpost.com/2026/05/13/c...

NEW: We've spent 10 months tracking the outcomes in tens of thousands of lawsuits brought by ICE detainees amid an unprecedented detention push. It's not a cose call: judges have ruled more than 10,000 times against ICE, a 9-1 ratio. See the database: www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

New: ICE released elderly man with cognitive impairments who was lost in Denver for hours, immigration advocates say www.denverpost.com/2026/05/12/i... via @denverpost.com

Ninety-two of the Capitol’s 100 legislators voted for Senate Bill 147, which is now headed for an almost-certain veto by Gov. Jared Polis. It would apply to his successor next year if it becomes law.

Read more:

Breaking: Federal judge in Denver finds ICE hasn’t complied with his prior order limiting the use of warrantless arrests. Judge finds ICE’s training to comply with his prior order “insufficient” and that ICE hasn’t changed its practices to comply with his order.

Two days left in session. Listening to ABBA in the press room, drinking a slurry of protein shake and Dr. Pepper, googling “what is a law,” sweating profusely.

A federal judge in Colorado sanctioned Mike Lindell's lawyer for the second time in the same case because he based his argument around a 10th Circuit case that doesn't exist. Judge Nina Wang strongly suspected AI was a factor in the faulty citation: www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/05/08/m...

“In wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children,” our columnist Nicholas Kristof writes.

God I love Barcelona.

After two years of struggle, lawmakers are poised to rewrite — and scale back — Colorado’s AI regulations

God I hate Arsenal.

A story about credibility: When I covered the late legislative push to give Coloradans the ability to sue federal agents, I was told by all involved that Gov. Polis’ office was in support. The day my story ran, his office called. It was inaccurate, they said, to say the governor supported the bill.

Judge Gordon Gallagher of Colorado has ordered a man's immediate release from immigration custody after ICE has twice refused to accept payment for the bond that an immigration judge set 10 days ago.

Senior Judge William Martínez released another person from unlawful immigration custody in Colorado, continuing his streak of bypassing bond hearings that seem to have preordained outcomes.

Despite somewhat hysterical lobbying, Colorado House passes legislation to block credit card companies and banks from charging “swipe fees” on sales tax collection. Business on business fight that included more than $566,000 in digital ad spending by financial companies. Yet bill clears comfortably.

Colorado lawmakers just killed a bill requiring financial transparency of legislative caucuses. Rep. William Lindstedt, one of nearly 20 Dems facing an ethics investigation for attending a private retreat in Vail funded by lobbying groups and a dark money org, cast the deciding vote against it.

Just now, Magistrate Judge Cyrus Chung of Colorado held an emergency hearing about whether a 19-year-old habeas petitioner should be released immediately. The immigration court abruptly moved his removal hearing from late May to tomorrow, and has ignored requests for a continuance: 🧵

New: Two Democrats join with two Republicans to kill SB-176, the “No Kings Act,” which would’ve allowed Coloradans to sue federal officials over constitutional right violations. Local officials opposed the measure, arguing it would open them up to new litigation - claims rejected by bill’s backers.

How bills sometimes die in the lege: One of these bills died after a top Republican subbed himself onto the committee, in place of an R who was likely to vote yes. The minority leader said he couldn’t remember why he subbed himself on, but his vote was the clincher that killed the measure.

Two bipartisan bills aimed at limiting warrantless access to Coloradans’ data by state agencies have been defeated after both efforts crashed into stiff opposition from law enforcement groups and, in one case, Gov. Jared Polis // Story by @sethklamann.bsky.social and @coltrain.bsky.social

New: Colorado lawmakers are killing their bill that would generally block government agencies — like the police — from accessing license plate reader databases. The House killed another bill intended to curb law enforcement’s ability to buy people’s data from private brokers.

Highly recommend this from Lizzy about a Colorado teacher and her husband, who has been detained in Aurora’s immigrant detention center for nearly 15 months:

New: A husband and wife separated by ICE allowed me into their lives. Their story documents the pitfalls of fighting against an unprecedented immigration legal effort but also the lengths a couple will go through to fight for their love. www.denverpost.com/2026/04/26/c... via @denverpost.com

Colorado lawmakers grapple with limits on kids’ AI chatbot interactions — and access to adult content

Journalist Amal Khalil and her colleagues were targeted by an Israeli air strike, and after she and a photographer fled into a house, Israel bombed that, too. When emergency workers responded, Israel fired on them.

As we and Michael have documented, the district court judges — who keep getting tasked with cleaning up flagrantly illegal immigration court moves — are losing their patience with what’s happening in the Aurora detention courtrooms:

It has happened. Senior Judge William Martínez is the first in Colorado -- to my knowledge -- to use the phrase "sham bond hearing" to describe what's going on in immigration court. From his order today releasing a detainee after an unnamed IJ engaged in no analysis to keep a man locked up: