In 2010, a lawsuit was filed in federal court against a Colorado law that says an individual may give twice as much money to the campaign of a candidate for state office who is running in a partisan primary, than to a candidate who gets on the November ballot by either petition or nominating convention. In practice, the Colorado law (which relates only to state and local office, not federal office) means individuals can donate twice as much to a Republican or a Democrat as to any other candidate.

The lawsuit has been delayed, and is now two and one-half years old. However, on February 5, U.S. District Court Judge Philip A. Brimmer cancelled the trial, and will rule on the briefs. There are no contested facts so there didn’t seem any need for a trial. Therefore, the decision is probably only a month or so away. The case is Riddle v Ritter, 1:10cv-1857. The lead plaintiff is Joelle Riddle, who wanted to give a donation to an independent candidate, Kathleen Curry. The Colorado Libertarian Party is also in the case, on the side of the independent candidate and her donor.

The reason the case is so old is because it had been sent by the federal court to the Colorado Supreme Court to construe the law. But the State Supreme Court pondered that for a year and then decided not to make any ruling, and sent the case back to federal court.