An ethics watchdog group wants a judge to overturn a ruling by the state’s top ethics panel that says it’s OK for a Colorado lawmaker to accept a trip to Turkey from an Aurora-based cultural foundation, claiming the ruling violates a gift ban in the state constitution.

Colorado Ethics Watch also asked that the ruling be thrown out because it was decided behind closed doors, rather than in an open, public meeting, according to a lawsuit filed against the Independent Ethics Commission in Denver District Court.

The ethics commission’s decision “effectively re-legalizes junkets,” Ethics Watch claims in its lawsuit. “It has the effect of nullifying the gift ban,” said Ethics Watch director Chantell Taylor, pointing to a constitutional ban on Colorado officials accepting gifts worth more than $50.