Constitutional law returns in Colorado

Today a Denver District Judge overturned an executive order by liberal Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter to raise taxes for education by not allowing scheduled property tax refunds to Colorado taxpayers to go forth.

The teacher's union and other liberal activist groups, funded by four leftist Colorado billionaires, bludgeoned voters with a $20 million media campaign into suspending the state's tax and spending limitation law, called the TABOR Amendment, for the next five years. Even these extra billions of revenue was not enough for the Democratic majority in the legislature to spend, so Ritter got them billions more with his executive order.

Colorado courts are glutted with liberal Democratic activist judges, appointed by the lengthy administrations of Gov. Roy Romer and Richard Lamm--no more so than on the State Supreme Court, where Ritter has vowed to appeal the District Court ruling.

The Independence Institute and other conservative groups filed the original suit, and are rejoicing this weekend at the State GOP convention in Broomfield, at the outcome. But no one is under any illusion that the majority of liberal Democratic activists on the State Supreme Court is likely to uphold the District Court ruling.

Now that would be truly a miracle.