E.L., et al. v. Claps, et al. (Amicus)

The ACLU of Colorado and National ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in the Court of Appeals in a case challenging the Adams County Detention Facility’s ban on in-person and contact visitations.

This case was brought on behalf of families of individuals who are incarcerated in the Adams County Detention Facility. The families are challenging the facility’s policy that denies family members the opportunity to see, touch, and hug their incarcerated parents. The families filed a motion a motion for preliminary junction arguing that the facility’s policy violated their rights under the Colorado Constitution. The district court denied the request for preliminary injunction not because the families’ constitutional claims were deemed invalid, but because the court decided that no private cause of action for injunctive relief existed under the Colorado Constitution.

Plaintiffs filed a Rule 21 petition to the Colorado Supreme Court asking it to reverse the district court’s decision. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court denied the petition, but the case continues to be litigated in the Colorado Court of Appeals.

The ACLU of Colorado partnered with the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative to file an amicus brief in the Court of Appeals arguing that, contrary to the district court’s ruling, the Colorado Constitution directly authorizes a private cause of action for injunctive relief to stop or prevent violations of individual state constitutional rights. The district court’s ruling flatly contradicts fundamental legal principles embraced in Colorado law and supported by a national consensus.