CASE SUMMARY

On May 4, 2021, Colorado’s General Assembly submitted interrogatories to the Colorado Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of a bill being considered that would temporarily change the state’s constitutional and statutory redistricting procedures in response to the delayed release of 2020 Census Data. The bill, S.B. 21-247, would have changed the statutory definition of “necessary census data” to allow the state’s redistricting commissions to draw preliminary plans using the unadjusted “legacy data” set to be released by the Census Bureau and would have changed the Colorado Supreme Court’s standard of review for redistricting plans to a “substantial compliance” standard rather than the ordinary constitutional review standard.

  • On June 1, 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court issued its opinion that S.B. 21-247 would be unconstitutional if enacted because the Colorado Constitution’s redistricting amendments specifically removed authority over the redistricting process from the Colorado General Assembly and the state judiciary, not the General Assembly, had sole authority to define which standard would apply to constitutional challenges.

CASE LIBRARY

Colorado Supreme Court - No. 21SA146