As I mentioned, the Coalition for Secular Government’s trial, scheduled for Friday, was postponed. Here’s Judge Kane’s order, as reported here:

Plaintiff’s requests for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief were consolidated and are set for a full-day trial/hearing tomorrow, Friday, September 21, 2012. Given the unlikelihood proponents of a ‘personhood’ amendment will salvaged for the Colorado state ballot in time for the 2012 election cycle, the impetus for the very expedited timeframe under which this case has been operating has relaxed enough to warrant the more thorough approach afforded by certifying certain important and threshold questions to the Colorado Supreme Court. Accordingly, tomorrow’s hearing is VACATED, to be reset at a later date.

That’s good news, on two counts.

First, the proposed “personhood” amendment will surely not make the ballot in 2012. If adequate numbers of signatures were indeed collected, the remedy will be that the measure appears automatically on the 2014 ballot. Hence, Ari Armstrong and I can raise and spend money for an updated version of our 2010 paper on the “personhood” movement without me filing those burdensome and intrusive campaign finance reports. Given the prominence of “personhood” in the GOP primary and Paul Ryan’s support “personhood,” I’m eager to update that policy paper. I’ll be announcing more about that soon.

Second, by not being on such a rushed schedule — and by having the Colorado Supreme Court answer some critical questions in advance — the case is likely to grapple in a more serious way with the serious constitutional questions raised by the suit. Obviously, that’s good news.

For a taste of the other work of the Center for Competitive Politics, see this Washington Examiner column by Allen Dickerson and Bradley Smith: Court ruling a boon to privacy, accuracy. If you’d like to donate to their efforts, you can do so here.