Legal
Colorado ACLU Cases

Legal Department Docket, 2002-Present

Case Name: Challenge to questions on Colorado bar application
Case Number: 99-Z-967, United States District Court, District of Colorado; 00-1302, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
ACLU Case Number: 1998-04

Description: In this case, the ACLU contends that the Colorado Board of Law Examiners violates the Americans for Disabilities Act (ADA) and the constitutional right of privacy by requiring applicants to the Colorado bar to answer broadly worded questions about their past history of treatment for mental or emotional problems or substance abuse. We argue that the questions force bar applicants to disclose intimate, personal information, including potentially stigmatizing medical history that has no reasonable relationship to their current ability to function as attorneys. The questions violate the ADA because they impose greater burdens on individuals with past history of disability and are not necessary to the Board’s proper function of determining current fitness to practice law. The litigation began in state court in 1998 and then moved to federal court. On July 7, 2000, the federal district court dismissed the complaint on grounds of standing, ripeness, and abstention. A year later, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. Roe #2 v. Ogden, 253 F.3d 122 (10th Cir. 2001). After the case returned to the district court, the ACLU added new individual plaintiffs and filed a Third Amended Complaint. The Board agreed to modify the challenged questions in 2002, and the parties agreed to settle the case.

Issues: Privacy; rights of persons with disabilities

Published Opinion: Roe #2 v. Ogden, 253 F.3d 122 (10th Cir. 2001)

ACLU of Colorado Attorneys: Stephen Masciocchi, David D. Powell Jr., Mark Silverstein

Links to Selected Documents:

ACLU News Release, May 12, 1998, “ACLU Files Legal Challenge to Questions Asked of State Bar Applicants”

Second Amended Complaint, Roe v. Ogden, filed May, 2000

Plaintiffs’ Amended Motion for Preliminary Injunction, October 8, 1999

Plaintiffs’ Brief on Abstention, March 13, 2000

ACLU Opening Brief, 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, October 6, 2000

Roe #2 v. Ogden, 253 F.3d 122 (10th Cir. 2001)

Plaintiffs’ Response to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Third Amended Complaint, filed January 7, 2002

ACLU News Release, October 30, 2002, “ACLU Announces Settlement of State Bar Exam Questions Case”