In Today’s News and Commentary, a ruling against forced labor in Colorado prisons, businesses lack standing to challenge Connecticut’s captive audience ban, and labor unions join tenant unions in announcing a rent strike in Minnesota.

            Last Friday, a Denver District Court Judge issued a 61-page ruling in a class action lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) and Governor Jared Polis, finding that they forced prisoners to work in violation of the state constitution. In 2018, Colorado voters chose to close the 13th Amendment loophole by voting in favor to amend Article II, Section 26 of the state constitution to read: “There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude.” Despite this clear language, incarcerated individuals reported nothing had actually changed because the State continued to compel individuals to work under threats of punishment, particularly the threat and use of segregation and isolation for failure to work. In 2022, Towards Justice filed a class action lawsuit alleging CDOC’s approach to prison labor amounted to involuntary servitude or slavery. During the trial in October 2024, attorneys for the state argued that revocation of privileges and punishments for failing to work did not rise to the level of coercion legally required to constitute involuntary servitude. In a wholesale rejection of this argument, the judge granted declaratory and injunctive relief enjoining CDOC policies that constitute involuntary servitude. The CDOC is reported to be evaluating next steps, including the possibility of appealing the ruling.

            Also last week, U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley issued a ruling in U.S. Chamber of Commerce et al. v. Bartolomeo et al., a pre-enforcement challenge to Connecticut’s ban on captive audience meetings brought by a coalition of businesses. In granting the defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment to the extent that it challenged the Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s (CBIA) standing, Law360 reports that Judge Dooley ruled that CBIA lacks standing for both a pre-enforcement claim and a preemption challenge. Crucial to this outcome was the Director of Connecticut’s Department of Labor Standards Division Thomas Wydra’s declaration of penalty under perjury that they did not intend to enforce the law against CBIA because it falls outside the scope of the statute. Despite a quite forgiving standard of finding credible enforcement in the Second Circuit, the court found that this disavowal sufficiently demonstrated that no credible threat of enforcement existed. CBIA was the only plaintiff in the case that alleged organizational standing, and the remaining plaintiffs had relied on CBIA to pursue their claims.

            Finally, labor and tenant unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul have announced a strike drive in anticipation of a March 1^st rent strike. The ICE presence in Minnesota has wreaked economic havoc on small businesses and family finances, as Minnesotans—citizens and immigrants alike—have opted to stay home out of fear of getting swept up in raids or becoming a target. While Minnesota has seen the reactivation of mutual aid networks that formed in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the emergence of community defense initiatives, it may also witness a historic rent strike. Yesterday, Twin Cities Tenants, a cities-wide tenant union, joined forces with SEIU Healthcare MN/IA, SEIU Local 26, Unite HERE Local 17, ATU 1005, and CWA 7250 to actively organize their memberships in anticipation of the March 1^st rent strike. Twin Cities Tenants estimates that 10,000 tenants withholding rent would result in a $15 million economic disruption in March alone. Since the start of 2026, landlords have already filed 2,075 evictions. The unions are demanding a statewide-eviction moratorium in addition to  calling on the state legislature to establish a $50 million rent relief fund.