Scott Gessler v. Matt Smith, et al.

By popular initiative Colorado created an Independent Ethics Commission with the power to enforce a gift ban and specific influence peddling standards. Expansively interpreting its own jurisdiction, the commission imposed a personal penalty and public censure on the sitting Secretary of State under a statute requiring all government workers to act “for the benefit of the people of the state.” The commission provided shifting notice of hundreds of statutes and rules before the hearing, preventing the Secretary from having meaningful pre-hearing notice. The question presented is: Are civil laws that impose a personal penalty subject to the same void-for-vagueness standards as criminal laws and deportation laws?