Court Kills Measure to Deny Immigrant Services

The state Supreme Court threw out a proposed November ballot initiative Monday that sought to deny services to illegal immigrants, another setback for a movement that has struggled for years to get the hot-button issue before Colorado voters.

In a 4-2 ruling, the court found that the proposed measure violated a provision of the Colorado Constitution that requires ballot initiatives to concern only a “single subject.”

By denying medical and welfare benefits to illegal immigrants and barring them from receiving state administrative services such as the recording of property deeds, the Defend Colorado Now initiative violated that requirement, the court ruled.

In 2004, activists pushed for a similar initiative but fell short of the signatures required to place it on the ballot.

On Monday, proponents of the initiative said they were asking the court to reconsider its ruling and were sharply critical of the decision.

“This is outrageous judicial activism,” former Democratic Gov. Richard Lamm, one of the initiative’s prime backers, said in a statement. “This isn’t law -- it’s raw, naked politics.”

Activist Manolo Gonzalez-Estay, who petitioned the court to block the initiative, said the judiciary had saved voters from having to puzzle out what he called a misleading ballot measure. “It was important to keep this off the ballot so voters will not be confused,” said Gonzalez-Estay, who is managing the opposition campaign group Keep Colorado Safe.

The initiative would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving all “non-emergency” services that were not required by federal law. The court ruled that it was unclear precisely which services that would cover, and that this might also include standard government administrative services as well as government benefits. The justices added that voters would be unaware that the initiative would deny these services.

In a dissent, Justice Nathan B. Coats said that the possibility of any initiative being deemed to have two subjects was “limited only by the ingenuity [and desire] of the court doing the slicing.”

The initiative’s backers said they would continue to have volunteers circulate petitions in hopes that the court reverses itself and allows the measure on the ballot.

“This is an issue that is so important to the voters of Colorado,” said Fred Elbel, co-chair of the campaign.