Denver judge dismisses Gov. Jared Polis’ latest attempt to end lawsuit

A Denver Judge Rejects Gov. Jared Polis’ Attempt to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Immigration Subpoena

A Denver judge has denied Governor Jared Polis’ request to dismiss a lawsuit that is preventing certain state employees from complying with a federal immigration subpoena.

District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones has ordered outside attorneys representing Polis to provide a full response to the lawsuit by next week. The judge affirmed that a former state employee and a nonprofit law firm have standing to sue the governor over his decision to turn over sensitive personal information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May.

Scott Moss, a former state employee, argued that cooperating with ICE would violate state laws, including a new law signed by Polis around the same time he decided to comply with the subpoena.

In a ruling issued the day before Thanksgiving, Judge Jones dealt a blow to Polis’ efforts to dismiss the case and provide ICE with records about the sponsors of undocumented and unaccompanied children. Although the judge did not explicitly block Polis from handing over the records, he indicated that doing so would violate state laws prohibiting the sharing of personal information with ICE.

Polis’ attorneys had sought to dismiss the case, claiming that Moss no longer had standing to sue and that the nonprofit law firm involved in the lawsuit was not eligible to do so. However, Judge Jones rejected Polis’ motion to dismiss and ordered the governor to respond to the allegations by December 10.

The state hired private attorneys to represent Polis after the Colorado Attorney General’s Office cited a conflict of interest due to prior legal advice provided to the governor.