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DENVER (CN) — The state of Colorado and its attorney general Phil Weiser challenged President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama, in a Wednesday lawsuit.
“The Constitution does not permit the executive to punish or retaliate against states for lawfully exercising sovereign powers reserved for the states, as President Trump and the executive branch have unlawfully done here,” Weiser writes in a 21-page complaint.
In the lawsuit, Weiser contends that Trump penned an executive order to move the military base in retaliation for Colorado’s robust vote by mail program — an executive action Colorado says violates the state’s sovereignty.
“States alone have the power to regulate elections for president and state and local offices,” the state says in the suit.
Weiser, a Democrat, further argued that if Trump is allowed to influence Colorado’s election — despite the constitutional principals of federalism and separation-of-powers — then the executive branch can seize other powers not delegated by the Constitution.
The U.S. Space Command has called Colorado Springs home since it was established in August 2019. Following a formal review, former-President Joe Biden made Peterson Space Force Base the military branch’s formal location in July 2023.
In announcing his decision to relocate the U.S. Space Command on Sept. 2, Trump explained, “the problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections, and we can’t have that. When a state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections because that’s what that means.”
According to the Department of Defense, the location of U.S. Space Command receives the benefit of 30,000 related jobs and billion of dollars in investment.
Since Colorado established its remote voting program in 2013, a majority of voters have chosen to turn in their ballots by mail or drop-off box.
In the lawsuit, Weiser pushed back on Trump’s critiques of mail-in voting, debunking the idea that the practice drives voter fraud.
Trump previously threatened to punish Colorado for the prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who is appealing felony convictions related to a 2021 leak of voting machine data.
“The Constitution does not permit the executive branch to punish or retaliate against states for lawfully exercising powers reserved for them, such as the power to regulate elections,” Weiser said in a statement. “If we don’t take a stand now against this unconstitutional and unlawful decision, Colorado and other states that use mail-in voting will face further pressure or punishment unless they give up their constitutional authority.”
To date, Colorado has filed and joined 41 lawsuits challenging dozens of the Trump administration’s policies, from ending birthright citizenship, laying off federal workers and dismantling AmeriCorps.
Representatives for the White House and the U.S. Department of Defense did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
The case has been assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson, a Barack Obama appointee.
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