On April 30, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer refused to let certain opponents of Congressman Doug Lamborn intervene in Lamborn’s case against the Colorado law banning out-of-state circulators. He said he is sympathetic to the position of the intervenors, but that they have nothing to add to the case. The proposed intervenors are the people who challenged Congressman Lamborn’s petition.
The intervenors then immediately asked the Tenth Circuit to force Judge Brimmer to let them intervene. In the Tenth Circuit, the case is In re Baldini, 18-1179.
Colorado law provides that primary candidates may qualify by getting 30% of the vote at a party convention. It also gives them the alternative of petitioning. Lamborn was concerned that he could not get 30% of support at the party convention, so decided to petition. Another candidate was nominated by acclamation at the convention, and has incidentally been endorsed by Rand Paul. There is also another successful petitioner.
The SOS had certified Lamborn’s petition. The prospective intervenors had sued the SOS for his certification (Lamborn was brought into the case as the real party in interest). They had wanted to argue that the out-of-state ban ensured that participants in the Republican nomination process were indeed Republicans. The SOS did not make that argument.