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Colorado has accused President Donald Trump of unconstitutionally retaliating against the state by ordering U.S. Space Command to move from Colorado Springs to Alabama — punishment, the complaint says, for its mail-in voting system — in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The state alleges the relocation was politically driven, violated constitutional limits on executive power and threatened billions in economic losses.
Trump announced the move Sept. 2, ending a yearslong fight over Space Command’s home base. The complaint cites him as saying Colorado’s mail-in voting “played a big factor” in his decision.
“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems — they do mail-in voting,” Trump is quoted as saying in the lawsuit. “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.”
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The 21-page lawsuit names Trump, the Defense and Air Force departments, and their secretaries as defendants and seeks to block the move through a court order.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser claims Trump’s directive “violates the Tenth Amendment, the Elections Clause, and the separation of powers” by punishing a state for how it runs its elections.
“Colorado has exercised its sovereign power to create and implement this voting system, as the Constitution expressly provides and as the Framers envisioned,” the lawsuit reads. “Sovereignty means the freedom to choose, regardless of the President’s view about the wisdom, efficacy, or appropriateness of that judgment.”
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The suit also alleges the Pentagon broke federal law by skipping required procedures and failing to notify Congress before relocating a major command.
Colorado claims the move would cost thousands of jobs, billions in investment, and billions more in taxpayer money to relocate an operational headquarters.
“Agency Defendants are expeditiously moving forward to carry out the President’s decision,” the complaint states, quoting a Pentagon spokesperson who confirmed the shift to Huntsville, Alabama.
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Colorado’s mail-in voting system, enacted in 2013, lets voters cast ballots by mail, at drop boxes or in person. The filing calls it the “gold standard” for secure, accessible elections and notes bipartisan support.
“Coloradans love being able to vote from home,” one Republican lawmaker said earlier this year, according to the complaint.
The state rejects Trump’s claims of “massive voter fraud” or “crooked elections,” saying its system includes strict security audits and paper-ballot safeguards.
“Colorado and other similar States impose strenuous security requirements, with detailed security auditing, to ensure free and fair elections,” according to the complaint. “The President’s claims that foreign countries and others print millions of illegal ballots is likewise completely false. President Trump’s statements and beliefs on mail-in voting are simply untethered from the facts.”
The White House pushed back on the criticism, arguing that the decision restores Trump’s initial vision for U.S. Space Command and strengthens America’s defense posture.
“President Trump chose Huntsville to house SPACECOM during his first term – it was Joe Biden who made the politically-motivated decision to relocate the headquarters to Colorado,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The Air Force’s merit-based decision of Huntsville is a win for national security and displays President Trump’s commitment to securing the United States’ global dominance.
“This location puts them in the best situation to improve readiness and protect our national interests while providing the necessary infrastructure capacity, community support, cost-effectiveness, and more,” Kelly added.
U.S. Space Command, created during Trump’s first term in 2018 to oversee military operations in space, was permanently based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs under President Joe Biden in 2023.
The complaint argues Trump’s reversal violates the constitutional balance of power, which reserves election regulation to the states. “The President’s decision thus offends the fundamental design of the Constitution in two ways, violating both federalism and separation-of-powers principles,” the lawsuit states.
“If allowed to stand, the President’s action here would fundamentally alter the balance of power between the States and the federal government,” the complaint says. “Future Presidents, Republican and Democratic alike, could use the same tactics to punish States.”
Colorado is asking the court to declare Trump’s order unconstitutional, block the move, and require federal agencies to follow procedural law. The state also seeks reimbursement for legal fees.
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