David Habecker, town trustee of Estes Park, Colorado, was recalled by the voters "in a recall election dominated by the issue of whether those voters wished to continue to be represented by a trustee who had refused to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance at trustee meetings." So, of course, he sued, claiming that his removal from office violated his rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Test Clause.

Last week, the federal district court rejected his claim (Habecker v. Town of Estes Park, 2006 WL 2709589 (D. Colo.)), concluding that the recall proponents and the voters were acting as private citizens rather than as state actors, and thus weren't bound by the Constitution: They were free to throw an official out of office for whatever reason they pleased. As importantly, the court implicitly concluded that judges were not empowered to keep in office someone whom the voters had thrown out. Good decision.

I blogged about this case in September 2006, when the district court rejected the official's claim. The Tenth Circuit just affirmed the district court decision, though mostly on procedural grounds. Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.