Colorado officials say the pardon is invalid because Peters was convicted under state law and the president may grant pardons only for federal offenses.
Attorneys for Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk convicted of state-level election interference, are asking a Colorado court to free her after President Donald Trump pardoned her.
In a motion filed Dec. 23, Peters’s lawyers said the Colorado Court of Appeals no longer has jurisdiction, or authority, over her case because Trump pardoned her on Dec. 5. They asked the court to release her from state prison based on the federal pardon.
The presidential document on file with the U.S. Department of Justice was signed by Trump on Dec. 5. It states that Peters is being given “a full and unconditional pardon” regarding “those offenses she has or may have committed or taken part in related to election integrity and security during the period from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021.”
The Pardons Clause of the U.S. Constitution says the president has the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States.” The clause also allows presidents to grant preemptive pardons to individuals who have not yet been convicted of federal offenses.
Colorado officials say under state law, only Colorado’s governor, currently Jared Polis, a Democrat, may pardon Peters, who was convicted under state law.
Peters, 70, was convicted in Colorado state court in August 2024 of election-related charges, such as allowing unauthorized access to voting machines, and sentenced to nine years of incarceration. She is currently an inmate at La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado.
Peters previously said on her website that her efforts as Mesa County Clerk during the 2020 election were aimed at upholding election integrity by “creating a forensic backdrop” of a county election server.
When he announced the federal pardon earlier this month, Trump in a Truth Social post called Peters “a Patriot.”
“Democrats only think there is one crime—Not voting for them! Instead of protecting Americans and their Tax Dollars, Democrats chose instead to prosecute anyone they can find that wanted Safe and Secure Elections.”
Peters is “a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest,” and who is in prison “for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections,” the president wrote.
The Colorado Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case on Jan. 14, 2026.
In the Dec. 23 filing, attorneys for Peters argued that President George Washington set a precedent when he gave pardons to individuals convicted of both state and federal crimes in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1795. They asked the state appeals court to rule quickly.
The appeals court directed Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to respond to Peters’s arguments by Jan. 8, 2026.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Weiser. No reply was received by publication time.
Weiser previously said the presidential pardon was not legally binding.
“One of the most basic principles of our constitution is that states have independent sovereignty and manage our own criminal justice systems without interference from the federal government,” Weiser said in a statement.
“The idea that a president could pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, would be an outrageous departure from what our Constitution requires, and will not hold up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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