Articles and Briefings
Denver Team Win Pro Bono Voting Rights Case Before Colorado Supreme Court
Feb 25 2025
A Womble Bond Dickinson team, led by Kendra Beckwith and including Ken Rossman, Elizabeth Michaels, and Joseph Hykan, won a significant pro bono case before the Colorado Supreme Court.
The team represented the League of Women Voters of Greeley, the Latino Coalition of Weld County, and two Weld County voters against Weld County’s Board of County Commissioners to enforce Colorado’s county commissioner redistricting statutes. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser supported the firm’s clients in the case.
The team successfully argued that the Board, as a home rule county, was not exempt from compliance with these statutes. The statutes are intended to secure robust public participation in the redistricting process and empower Colorado voters to elect commissioners who reflect the local community. They require consideration of several factors in the redistricting process, including proportionality, maximizing politically competitive districts, and preserving communities of interest.
The team successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to use an uncommon procedural rule that allowed the court to hear the case in the first instance, bypassing the court of appeals altogether. This allowed for faster and more timely resolution of the clients’ case.
Weiser, in a public statement emphasized the importance of this decision, observing the “unanimous decision by the state Supreme Court says what we have argued all along—that Weld County voters are entitled to a redistricting process that is fair and transparent….The law is clear—people’s votes matter, and gerrymandering has no place in how county commission districts are drawn.”
The Supreme Court ordered the Board to comply with the statutes by the next County Commissioner election in 2026.
Click here to read media coverage of the case in Colorado Politics.
