2025 was the year of remedial education for the Colorado General Assembly.<\/p>\n
Since legislators in the majority just can\u2019t seem to understand the First Amendment, they got schooled by the courts on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n
Constitution 101: the First Amendment forbids government agencies, federal, state or local, from enacting a law or regulation \u201crespecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government cannot quash or coerce speech, establish religion or prevent its exercise. If state legislators and regulators learn these principles, taxpayers will not have to foot the bill for yet another needless trip to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Lesson one: Agencies cannot abridge free speech by forcing people to parrot the government\u2019s ideological message. That\u2019s called coerced speech. A week ago, a Biden-appointed federal judge blocked Colorado from enforcing a 2025 law, House Bill 1161,<\/a> that requires cigarette pack-style health warnings on gas stoves and imposes a fine of up to $20,000 per violation if they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n The judge agreed with the plaintiffs, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, that the law likely infringes on their First Amendment freedoms. \u201cThe court disagrees that the labeling requirement merely enables customers to access information — the only reason customers can access this information is because the State compels peddlers of gas stoves to speak it,\u201d the court ruled. \u201cFurther \u2026 whether the information is truthful and accurate is subject to substantial disagreement within the scientific community.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to familiarizing themselves with the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers v. Weiser decision, legislators will want to read the Supreme Court\u2019s 2023 decision in the Colorado case 303 Creative LLC vs Elenis<\/a> and the cases it cites as homework.<\/p>\n