Williams v. Libertarian Party of Colorado, 2017 CO 86

Gordon Roy Butt sought to circulate a petition to run as a Libertarian successor candidate in a 2013 Colorado legislative recall election; the Secretary of State denied the request as untimely under then § 1-12-117(1).
Butt and the Libertarian Party filed a § 1-1-113 petition arguing the statute conflicted with Article XXI, § 3 of the Colorado Constitution; they also included a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim and sought attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988.
The district court ruled for the Party on the state constitutional claim under § 1-1-113 and did not decide the § 1983 claim; further appeals and denials of review followed.
After the General Assembly amended § 1-12-117(1), the district court dismissed the § 1983 claim as moot and denied fee requests as untimely.
The court of appeals reversed, relying on Brown v. Davidson to permit § 1983 claims in § 1-1-113 proceedings and remanded to decide whether fees under § 1988 were appropriate.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed the court of appeals, holding § 1983 claims may not be brought in a § 1-1-113 proceeding and overruling contrary appellate authority.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether § 1983 claims may be brought in a § 1-1-113 election-code proceeding	Butt/Party: § 1983 may be joined with § 1-1-113 claims; Brown permits joinder	Secretary: § 1-1-113 is limited to violations of "this code" (the Election Code); § 1983 is federal and not within § 1-1-113	No. § 1983 claims may not be brought in § 1-1-113 proceedings; Brown overruled
Whether Colorado courts’ exclusion of § 1983 from § 1-1-113 violates the Supremacy Clause	Party: denying § 1983 here impedes federal rights enforcement	Secretary: state courts remain open to § 1983 actions and expedited relief; § 1-1-113 need not incorporate § 1983	No Supremacy Clause problem; plaintiffs can still bring § 1983 actions in state courts separately
Whether the court of appeals erred in allowing § 1988 fees based on an unadjudicated § 1983 claim (assuming joinder allowed)	Party: prevailing on state claim entitles them to fees for related § 1983 work	Secretary: fee recovery for an unadjudicated federal claim is inappropriate or untimely	Not reached on the merits—court disposed of case by rejecting joinder, so remaining fee questions left for remand
Whether prior appellate precedent (Brown v. Davidson) should be overruled	Party: supports Brown’s approach to joinder	Secretary: argues Brown was wrongly decided	Held: Brown is overruled to the extent it permits § 1983 in § 1-1-113 proceedings

Brown v. Davidson, 192 P.3d 415 (Colo. App. 2006) (previously held § 1983 claims could be joined in a § 1-1-113 petition; overr- ruled by this Court)
Frazier v. Williams, 401 P.3d 541 (Colo. 2017) (companion opinion explaining why § 1-1-113 is limited to Election Code claims and § 1983 may not be brought in that proceeding)