Colorado Department of State v. Baca

E41904

United States federal court case constitutional law case election law case

Colorado Department of State v. Baca is a U.S. federal court case addressing whether states can remove or sanction presidential electors who refuse to vote in accordance with their state's popular vote in the Electoral College.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Colorado Department of State v. Baca canonical	2
Baca v. Colorado Department of State	1
Tenth Circuit initially ruled in favor of elector autonomy in Baca v. Colorado	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T328018 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Colorado Department of State v. Baca
Context triple: [Chiafalo v. Washington, isRelatedCaseTo, Colorado Department of State v. Baca]

A. Arizona v. United States
Arizona v. United States is a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited state authority over immigration enforcement by affirming broad federal power in this area.
B. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission is a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled, on narrow grounds, that Colorado officials had shown unconstitutional hostility toward a baker’s religious beliefs when enforcing anti-discrimination laws against his refusal to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
C. City of Boerne v. Flores
City of Boerne v. Flores is a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court case that curtailed Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment and held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act could not be applied to the states.
D. South Dakota v. Dole
South Dakota v. Dole is a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power to condition federal highway funds on states adopting a minimum drinking age of 21, helping define the scope of the federal spending power.
E. DeBoer v. Snyder
DeBoer v. Snyder was a federal court case challenging Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban that became one of the key cases consolidated into the landmark Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Colorado Department of State v. Baca
Target entity description: Colorado Department of State v. Baca is a U.S. federal court case addressing whether states can remove or sanction presidential electors who refuse to vote in accordance with their state's popular vote in the Electoral College.

A. Arizona v. United States
Arizona v. United States is a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited state authority over immigration enforcement by affirming broad federal power in this area.
B. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission is a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled, on narrow grounds, that Colorado officials had shown unconstitutional hostility toward a baker’s religious beliefs when enforcing anti-discrimination laws against his refusal to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
C. City of Boerne v. Flores
City of Boerne v. Flores is a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court case that curtailed Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment and held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act could not be applied to the states.
D. South Dakota v. Dole
South Dakota v. Dole is a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power to condition federal highway funds on states adopting a minimum drinking age of 21, helping define the scope of the federal spending power.
E. DeBoer v. Snyder
DeBoer v. Snyder was a federal court case challenging Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban that became one of the key cases consolidated into the landmark Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States federal court case ⓘ constitutional law case ⓘ election law case ⓘ
areaOfLaw	United States constitutional law ⓘ United States election law ⓘ
background	arose from actions of Colorado presidential electors in the 2016 Electoral College vote ⓘ
circuit	Tenth Circuit ⓘ linked to: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
citation	935 F.3d 887 ⓘ
constitutionalBasisOfHolding	Electors have a federal constitutional right to exercise discretion in casting their Electoral College votes ⓘ
constitutionalProvisionInvoked	Article II of the United States Constitution ⓘ First Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
court	United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ⓘ
decisionDate	2019-08-20 ⓘ
holding	the Tenth Circuit held that Colorado could not remove a presidential elector for casting a vote contrary to the state’s popular vote ⓘ
issue	scope of state authority to direct and control electors’ votes ⓘ whether a state may remove or sanction a presidential elector who does not vote in accordance with the state’s popular vote ⓘ
jurisdiction	United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ⓘ
legalSubject	Electoral College ⓘ Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ U.S. Constitution Article II ⓘ linked to: Article II of the United States Constitution faithless electors ⓘ presidential electors ⓘ state power over electors ⓘ
location	Colorado ⓘ
opinionBy	Judge Carolyn B. McHugh ⓘ
originatedFrom	United States District Court for the District of Colorado ⓘ linked to: District of Colorado
panelJudge	Judge Carolyn B. McHugh ⓘ Judge Jerome A. Holmes ⓘ Judge Mary Beck Briscoe ⓘ
partyRoleOfMichaelBaca	Democratic Party presidential elector from Colorado in 2016 ⓘ
petitioner	Colorado Department of State ⓘ
relatedCase	Chiafalo v. Washington ⓘ Ray v. Blair ⓘ
relatedTo	2016 United States presidential election ⓘ
respondent	Michael Baca ⓘ other Colorado presidential electors ⓘ
result	judgment in favor of elector Michael Baca on key constitutional question ⓘ
stateActionChallenged	Colorado’s removal of Baca as an elector and nullification of his attempted vote ⓘ
subjectMatter	nullification of electoral votes ⓘ removal of electors ⓘ state enforcement of elector pledges ⓘ
subsequentHistory	Tenth Circuit judgment effectively superseded by the Supreme Court’s decision in Chiafalo v. Washington ⓘ certiorari granted sub nom. Colorado Department of State v. Baca and consolidated into Chiafalo v. Washington at the U.S. Supreme Court ⓘ
supremeCourtCitation	140 S. Ct. 2316 (via Chiafalo v. Washington) ⓘ
supremeCourtDisposition	U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Tenth Circuit’s reasoning in Chiafalo v. Washington ⓘ
triggeringEvent	Michael Baca attempted to cast an electoral vote for John Kasich instead of Hillary Clinton ⓘ
yearDecided	2019 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Chiafalo v. Washington → isRelatedCaseTo → Colorado Department of State v. Baca ⓘ

Michael Baca → subjectOfCourtCase → Colorado Department of State v. Baca ⓘ

attempted to vote for John Kasich for president in 2016 → legalProceeding → Baca v. Colorado Department of State ⓘ

linked to: Colorado Department of State v. Baca

attempted to vote for John Kasich for president in 2016 → subsequentJudicialOutcome → Tenth Circuit initially ruled in favor of elector autonomy in Baca v. Colorado ⓘ