Legal
Colorado ACLU Cases

Legal Department Docket, 2002-Present

Case Name: Colorado Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students v. Owens
Case Number: No. 03CV3734, Denver District Court; No. 03SA364, Colorado Supreme Court
ACLU Case Number: 2003-05

Description: On April 16, 2003, Governor Owens signed HB 03-1160, the Colorado Opportunity Contract Pilot Program. It authorizes a voucher program that makes public funds available to pay for students who want to attend private schools, including sectarian religious schools. The lawsuit, filed on May 20, 2003, alleges that the new law violates several provisions of the Colorado Constitution. One of those provisions, Article IX, Section 7, expressly prohibits spending any public funds "to help support or sustain any school...controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatsoever." Without deciding whether the vouchers program violates that provision, the Denver District Court held that the statute violates a separate state constitutional provision guaranteeing local control of public schools. The Colorado Supreme Court agreed, in a ruling issued on June 28, 2004.

Issues: Separation of church and state

ACLU of Colorado Attorneys: Mark Silverstein

Additional Co-Counsel: John M. West and attorneys from the Colorado Education Association; Americans United for Separation of Church and State; People for the American Way; American Jewish Committee; and American Jewish Congress.

Published Opinion: Owens v. Colorado Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students, 92 P.3d 933 (Colo. 2004)

Links to Selected Documents:

Complaint filed May 20, 2003

Brief in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, July 1, 2003

Plaintiffs' Brief, Colorado Supreme Court

Owens v. Colorado Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students, 92 P.3d 933 (Colo. 2004)