Colorado says relocation of Space Command to Alabama is ‘punishment’ for mail-in voting
DENVER (AP) — Colorado officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday. Relocation of US Space Command The trip to Alabama was illegally motivated by President Donald Trump’s desire to punish Colorado. voting by mail system.
The lawsuit, announced by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, asks a federal judge to block the move as unconstitutional.
Then-President Joe Biden announced the creation of Space Command in 2023. permanently placed Serving as temporary headquarters is in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In September, Trump said Colorado’s vote-by-mail system “played a huge role” in relocating headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama.
“The problem with Colorado is they have a very corrupt voting system,” Trump said. He said previous plans to move the headquarters to Huntsville were “unfairly blocked” by the Biden administration.
The decision ended a four-year feud between the two states and opposing administrations. This infuriated both Democratic and Republican officials in Colorado, which has a thriving aviation industry.
“President Trump unlawfully retaliated against Colorado to punish the state for exercising its sovereign authority to hold elections,” Colorado officials wrote in Wednesday’s lawsuit. “The Supreme Court has long recognized that the Constitution prohibits the use of retaliatory, punitive, or other coercive action in response to the exercise of a constitutional right or power.”
Space Command’s functions include providing satellite-based navigation and troop communications and providing warning of missile launches.
Huntsville—called Rocket City for its role in building the first rockets for the U.S. space program—is home to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.
About 1,400 Space Command jobs will move to Redstone Arsenal over the next five years, Alabama officials said.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Wednesday that his state will vigorously defend the relocation decision in court. He called Colorado’s lawsuit “a partisan attempt to overturn a lawful, evidence-based decision that has been repeatedly confirmed by military experts, independent reviews and congressional oversight.”
A review The investigation by the Department of Defense inspector general was inconclusive and could not determine why Colorado was chosen over Alabama. Trump, a Republican with deep support in Alabama, had long been expected to transfer Space Command back to the state.
The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment.
