DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court yesterday issued an opinion that Colorado's campaign-finance laws are unconstitutional in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Gov. Bill Ritter had asked the Colorado high court to weigh in after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that businesses and unions should be allowed to directly spend unlimited amounts of money to produce and run their own ads for campaigns.
The Colorado Supreme Court said Colorado's Amendment 27, which was approved by the state’s voters in 2002 banning such contributions, violates the First Amendment in light of Citizens United.