Colorado Democrat Governor Jared Polis bills himself as a “western libertarian” who supports freedom and limited government. But under his watch, the Centennial State has become perhaps the most anti-free speech state in the country, racking up a string of rebukes in the courtroom for assaulting Americans’ First Amendment freedoms.
In the most recent defeat for Polis’s government, the Supreme Court ruled on March 31 in Chiles v. Salazar in an 8-1 decision that Colorado’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy” unconstitutionally restricts free speech when applied to certain forms of talk therapy.
The Colorado law in question effectively criminalizes the act of counselors helping minors work through unwanted gender confusion and same-sex attraction. While the ruling does not outright invalidate Colorado’s law, a lower court must now apply strict scrutiny to it, meaning it is unlikely to survive, as AMAC Newsline previously reported.
The law was especially discriminatory toward religious Coloradans and Christians in particular. Under the provisions of the law, if a minor boy believed that he was a girl and a licensed counselor attempted to help him accept and embrace his biological sex, the counselor could face legal repercussions.
But this is just the most recent instance in which the Court was forced to remind Governor Polis and Colorado Democrats that Christians have rights in this country.
Just three years earlier, in 2023, the Supreme Court rebuked Colorado for attempting to force a Christian web designer to promote same-sex weddings in violation of her sincerely held religious beliefs. In 303 Creative v. Elenis, a majority of the justices affirmed that artists cannot be forced to create messages with which they disagree.
That legal loss for Polis and Democrats follows yet another ruling, albeit much narrower, in 2017, which found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (which ironically has primarily attacked residents’ civil rights) violated baker Jack Phillips’s rights when it punished him for not baking a cake for a gay wedding.
Polis was not governor when this case was making its way through the legal system. But as a congressman, he signed onto an amicus brief urging the Court to allow state officials to harass Phillips and force him to bake the cake or pay business-crushing penalties.
One wonders how Polis squares his supposedly “libertarian” beliefs with supporting the use of government power to compel private citizens to create things that violate their personal beliefs. Or how Polis claims to want “limited government” but cheered on an unelected and unaccountable government commission as it attempted to fine a private citizen into bankruptcy for having the “wrong” opinion about gay marriage.
Despite the clear rebuke in 2017 by the Court, Polis has not stepped in to protect Phillips from further harassment. Following Phillips’s victory, a “transgender” attorney subsequently tried to target the Christian baker for not baking a cake to celebrate a “gender transition.” Yet as governor, Polis has sat on the sidelines. The clear intent of this case once again is to ruin Phillips financially and destroy his business by weaponizing the legal system against him in retaliation for his Christian faith.
Several recent court cases further illustrate Polis’s antipathy toward First Amendment freedoms.
The first case began in 2023 when Polis signed a law banning abortion pill reversal services. Pro-life pregnancy centers offer this treatment to women who wish to stop the abortion process after taking the first abortion pill. Despite multiple instances where this practice has resulted in the birth of healthy babies, Polis falsely claimed that abortion pill reversals are “unscientific.”
A federal judge issued a permanent injunction on the law, and a Catholic clinic sued the state, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment. Earlier this year, the clinic was vindicated when a court ordered Colorado to pay $5.4 million to settle the case.
Another case currently making its way through the courts challenges a Colorado law that requires businesses to use someone’s “preferred pronouns.”
Additionally, as LifeSite News reported last year, Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood – under Polis’s leadership – attempted to force a Christian camp to allow men to shower next to girls. Following a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the state dropped the requirement in what amounted to another admission that it was violating the First Amendment.
Attorneys with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty are also asking the Court to stop a Colorado law that bans Catholic preschools from a state program because they require “families to support Catholic beliefs to enroll in the school,” according to the Washington Examiner.
“Colorado is now arguably the most anti-free speech state in the union, pushing an array of measures attacking those with opposing social and political views,” legal scholar Jonathan Turley wrote on his website following the counseling law ruling. “Citizens will continue to subsidize this effort to defend laws compelling or censoring speech,” he warned.
Others have also criticized Polis’s apparent war on free speech and religious liberty.
The state “is no stranger to attacks on religious freedom,” Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino wrote, commenting on the Catholic preschool case.
Even libertarians are starting to see through Polis’s facade. Reason editor Nick Gillespie once gushed over Polis, calling him “the most libertarian governor in America” in 2022. Just a few years later, he criticized the governor for signing gun control and liquor restrictions into law.
In some areas, Polis indeed has supported individual freedom. He has generally been supportive of school choice and is the only Democrat governor so far to support new choice scholarships signed into law by President Trump in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
However, a few reasonable actions do not come close to canceling out his shocking hostility toward Christians and anyone who disagrees with his far-left ideology. It seems that no matter how many times the courts rebuke Polis and Colorado Democrats, they only become more determined to render the First Amendment null and void in their state.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
Polis is a typical politician — says one thing and does the opposite.
Nothing will change unless he and his cronies are jailed or personally fined for contempt of the court rulings.
Colorado used to be such a great state. It’s a shame, what they’ve become. We no longer travel there.
Colorado is competing with Virginia ro become East California. He’s about as libertarian as a Nazi.
polis is a woke democ-rat demented liberal that is making colorado into the worst place around.if californias politicians had twins they would be in co.it used to be a nice state but anymore it struggles to be a third world type.too bad the fruitcakes had to move there.
Colorado needs the SAVE Act to protect it from Polis cohorts and Commierado! Without the SAVE Act the occupation with continue.
Polis is no different than the radical leftist. He is no libertarian! Ask Tina Peters who sits in prison because she is conservative and spoke out about voter fraud! There is no free speech in blue states especially for republicans or conservatives. Hell, Scamberger is trying to silence Virginians with the gerrymandering. If people keep voting Democrat no conservative or Republican will have a voice! Wake up folks!!!!
In 1999 my husband and I bought property near Gunnison, CO, for our retirement years down the road. It is now 2026 and we’ve passed retirement age but have never sought to develop our beautiful Colorado property. Why, because of the horrible political environment in that state. What used to be a staunch red state then spent years as purple is now deep blue and we see no potential for change. We’re now looking at West Virginia. An equally beautiful state with a whole lot better politics.
“Member when Colorado was a normal state? Before alll the KKKalifornians moved there and turned the place into KKKalorado? A shame, that.
Where are all the no King protesters, no pay, no protest.
Polis and the Democratic Party along with their allies are enemies to America and this is yet another way to destroy our country!
I remember when Colorful Colorado had nothing to do with pride flags.
Know them by their actions, not their “self-proclaimed” labels
He’s far left and likes to spend money . He has ruined the state. I didn’t vote for him.
He like 99% of all the other dimocrats is a liar! It is absolutely impossible to be a dimocrat and a Libertarian! Their beliefs are 180 degrees apart. It would be like Mamdani calling himself a communist Capitalist. Libertarians want absolutely less government interference and are huge proponents of free speech. So just because he does what dims do, and lies about what he is to fool the voters (and it works), AMAC should not be repeating his lies and calling him a Libertarian though they at least had it in quote marks.
He lies just like everyone else…claims to be something he is not…his actions are shameful and not representative of the people, but the shame is on the people who belteve and are hoodwinked by him and others like him and don’t stand for what is right or use common sense.