Boulder Reporting Lab: Political organizers who were sued by former Boulder City Council candidate Steve Rosenblum for alleged defamation during the 2021 election have filed their opening brief in the Colorado Court of Appeals, setting the stage for what is expected to be a high-stakes and lengthy legal battle over free speech protections. 

The legal filing comes in response to a Sept. 22, 2021 lawsuit filed by Rosenblum against several high-profile, politically active Boulderites who ran campaigns against him. The suit accuses them of conspiring to spread false and defamatory information to damage his reputation in the “heat of the 2021 Boulder City Council race.” 

The lawsuit targets political organizer Eric Budd and the Boulder Progressives — a candidate committee that helped elect city council candidates running against Rosenblum — plus three of its members. (Budd faces an additional allegation, for which he is expected to file a separate brief later this month.)

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