Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who has sued President Donald Trump over tariffs, birthright citizenship, federal worker layoffs and funding freezes, among other things, is now vowing to sue to stop him from moving Space Command out of Colorado to Huntsville, Ala.

Is there a legal case for keeping Space Command here?

Experts in administrative law say Colorado’s path is narrow — courts usually defer to the Pentagon or executive branch on all basing matters. But if Weiser frames his argument as the Department of Defense failing to follow required administrative procedures, he may have a plausible case under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Both the Government Accountability Office and the DoD Inspector General have already flagged serious procedural flaws with the decision-making process that could help Weiser make his argument.

In order to show a violation of the APA statute, legal experts say the state must show that the Department of Defense:

• Relied on “improper factors” such as political considerations.

• Ignored “critical factors” such as operational readiness.

• Failed to provide a reasoned explanation for changing course, which speaks to the transparency of decision-making.

Critics have alleged that Colorado’s exclusion in the original decision by Trump to base Space Command in Alabama was politically motivated — especially given the swing from Trump’s late‑term selection of Alabama (2021) to Biden’s reversal (2023), and now Trump’s return to that previous decision.

In January 2021, Gazette Military Editor Tom Roeder broke the story that military leaders had initially recommended keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs. However, Trump overruled that recommendation and personally selected Huntsville as the new headquarters, Roeder reported. Trump has said himself it was his decision, not the Air Force’s.

Colorado may contend that such politically driven relocations are “improper factors” in the decision, and violate constitutional principles of equal protection or the broader requirement for decisions to be made based on merit, not politics.

In his news conference Tuesday, Trump explicitly stated that Colorado’s “corrupt” system of mail-in voting “played a big role” in his decision. That pronouncement may hurt him in court since it suggests clear political decision-making.

“It’s wholly inappropriate and legally suspect for the president to decide the location of Space Command HQ based on how Colorado exercises its power under the U.S. Constitution to run our elections and our mail voting system,” Weiser said in an email on Tuesday.

Weiser could also argue that the Defense Department ignored the “critical factor” of operational readiness when it made its basing decision.

The GAO found that the Air Force’s ranking process for best sites underweighted mission-readiness and overemphasized cost, ignoring disruptions to operational capability. An inspector general report found that relocating Space Command to Alabama could delay reaching full operational capability by three to four years, as well as impede secure communication setup, and result in civilian workforce attrition because many Colorado-based civilian staff wouldn’t relocate.

Space Command went fully operational in Colorado on Dec. 15, 2023.

Colorado lawmakers argue that those delays risk national security at a time when adversaries like China and Russia are advancing their space capabilities.

In a joint statement Tuesday, Colorado’s congressional delegation said: “Moving Space Command sets our space defense apparatus back years, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, and hands the advantage to the converging threats of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office has reported multiple times that moving the Command will impede our military’s operational capability for years.”

Colorado may also argue that the move inflicts irreparable economic harm on Colorado Springs, including loss of federal investment, civilian jobs and established military infrastructure that the local economy relies upon. While economic injury alone may not be sufficient for finding unfairness, combining it with operational-readiness concerns could bolster an emergency injunction request.

The DoD Inspector General report was also unable to ascertain why Colorado was chosen over Alabama due to restricted access to senior officials. Colorado could claim this represents a flawed or non‑transparent decision‑making process, which could fall under the category of “Failed to provide a reasoned explanation for changing course,” also undermining administrative fairness.

All these findings could support a claim that the move was “arbitrary and capricious,” and therefore unlawful under the APA.

In sum, Colorado’s strongest legal footing lies in procedural and readiness-related arguments under the APA. They would need to demonstrate that the DoD’s decision was inadequately reasoned, lacking transparency, and endangered national security. Arguing direct political bias or economic damage may help the broader narrative but carries less legal weight in court.

Weiser’s many lawsuits against the Trump administration have been criticized as frivolous, but his track record so far is fairly good.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Colorado has joined more than two dozen lawsuits challenging Trump’s actions. More than half of those cases have seen judges grant court orders pausing or permanently halting certain executive actions implemented by Trump.

Even if a court did decide the whole process has been problematic, that doesn’t mean Colorado would automatically get to keep Space Command. Rather, it would mean the whole exercise of picking a home for Space Command would have to start all over again, and Colorado Springs could very well lose that race.

Given the pace of justice these days, however, a new president is likely to be sworn in before any court rules on Weiser’s claim and all appeals are exhausted. Weiser’s real strategy may be to slow-walk the move by tangling it up in legal paperwork. 

Time may take this decision out of Trump’s hands once again.