Cowan v. City of Aspen

The primary issue in this case is whether the trial court was correct in declaring the three-year durational residency charter requirement for candidates for mayor and councilman of the City of Aspen to be in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The controversy here also brings into focus a secondary issue of whether the State statute requiring one-year’s residence for candidates for municipal office is constitutionally valid.

On the primary issue, we hold that the trial court’s judgment invalidating as unconstitutional the…