Since my attorneys filed our anti-SLAPP motion to throw out Rep. Lauren Boebert’s protection order case against my reporting, her lawyers have done one thing with real energy.
They have asked for more time.
I am not going to characterize it. I am going to show you the court’s own e-service notices, exactly as they landed in my attorney’s inbox, and let you draw your own conclusion.
The record
Filing No. 1. October 14, 2026. Served by Scott Eric Gessler, Weld County Court, Division 9, case 2026C001286, Boebert, Lauren v. Wheeler, David B. Document title: Unopposed Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Respondent’s Special Motion to Dismiss.
We agreed to that one. My lawyers do not fight over scheduling, and a week is a week.
Filing No. 2. October 22, 2026, time-stamped 7:07 p.m. on a Thursday. Same lawyer, same case. Document title: Partially Unopposed Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Respondent’s Special Motion to Dismiss, with a proposed order attached.
“Partially unopposed” is a phrase worth decoding. Her attorney asked my attorney for a second extension, out to the following Monday. My attorney said no, file by Friday. So her side went to the judge for the extra days anyway.
Filing No. 3. October 25, 2026. Order re Partially Unopposed Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Respondent’s Special Motion to Dismiss. Granted.
So the response that was originally due has now been pushed, twice, and the next real date on the calendar is November 16. Election Day is November 3.
You can do that math yourself.
How we got here
For readers who are new to this, the short version.
In September I filed a sworn ethics complaint against Rep. Boebert with the House Committee on Ethics, built on House disbursement records, FEC filings, and named sources who gave written statements. I published it. Her office responded not with records but with a press release calling me a perjurer, and then, three days after the complaint was filed, she walked into a Weld County courtroom and asked for a civil protection order against me.
Not a defamation suit, where she would have to prove I said something false. A protection order, the kind of filing meant for people in physical danger, aimed at a journalist in North Carolina who has never been in her presence except for an eight-second handshake at a public event that she herself has posted about.
It was the seventh protection order petition she has filed since 2018. Five of the previous ones ended in dismissal or a vacated order, often because she did not show up. I wrote about that pattern earlier this month.
What happened on October 1
The temporary order hearing was October 1. By then she had retained Scott Gessler, the former Colorado Secretary of State, who entered his appearance the day before. The morning of the hearing her side filed a motion for contempt, arguing I had violated the temporary order by continuing to publish. My lawyers, Dan Ernst and Alan Feldman, had already filed our special motion to dismiss under Colorado’s anti-SLAPP statute, C.R.S. 13-20-1101, the law that exists precisely so public officials cannot use the courts to silence reporting about them.
The judge allowed me and my witnesses to testify remotely. More importantly, the court ruled that the anti-SLAPP statute applies to her case and set a briefing schedule. That is the schedule she is now stretching.
One more thing from that day that I take seriously. The court directed that I not tag or otherwise direct communication at Rep. Boebert on social media. I have complied and will continue to. Reporting about a Member of Congress is protected. Messaging her is not what I do, and the order does not change what I publish.
Why the delay matters
Under the anti-SLAPP statute, once the court finds the law applies, the burden shifts to her. She has to show a reasonable likelihood of actually winning her petition. Her lawyers have had our motion since the end of September. They have now been granted until past Election Day to answer it.
If she loses the motion, the statute allows the court to order her to pay our attorney fees. My lawyers believe we will win. Dan, who handled my earlier federal defamation case against her, also reminded me of something every litigator knows: winning a fee award and collecting it are two different things, and collecting from a defendant can take years, if it happens at all.
Which brings me to the part she is counting on.
Every extension is another week my legal team stays on the clock. I pay for the clock. She does not. The invoices do not pause because her attorney asked the judge for a few more days. I owe my lawyers today, and I will owe them more by November 16.
Where the fund stands
The legal defense fund goal is $25,000. We are still about $10,000 short.
I am a single father in the mountains of Western North Carolina who runs a small accountability outfit. She is a sitting Member of Congress with a campaign account and a former Secretary of State at the table. Her strategy, as far as I can read it from the docket, is to make this last longer than my money does.
If you can help close the gap, here is the link:
https://secure.numero.ai/contribute/crimefamily
$25, $50, $100, whatever you can. Every dollar goes to the lawyers. If you prefer a check, make it out to American Muckrakers PAC, Inc., 237 Rockledge Rd, Spruce Pine, NC 28777.
When her response finally lands, we answer it. When the November 16 date comes, we argue it. When we win, we go after her for every dollar in fees, however long that takes.
But we have to get there first.
Thank you for standing with me.
David B. Wheeler President, American Muckrakers PAC, Inc.
If you have tips about Rep. Boebert, contact me at david@americanmuckrakers.com.
About the Author
David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.
Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.
Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.
An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.
And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her, with your help, in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.
Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.
This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.