Court Cases

This case challenges the censorship of books, newspapers, magazines, and political commentary in the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC).

On December 2, 2004, the Colorado ACLU invoked the Freedom of Information Act on behalf of 16 organizations and 10 individuals, seeking disclosure from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) of the files on it keeps on peaceful and nonviolent political activity.

This lawsuit, filed on behalf of a woman from one of Denver's northern suburbs, alleges that the North Metro Drug Task Force made her strip naked in the parking lot of her condominium in full view of her neighbors and male law enforcement officers and forced her to submit to a humiliating and degrading "decontamination" ritual that had no legitimate purpose whatsoever.

On March 5, 2003, Governor Owens signed Senate Bill 03-176, which terminates Medicaid benefits to approximately 3500 indigent legal immigrants. Before the cuts could take effect on April 1, the ACLU and other organizations filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Colorado violates the Equal Protection Clause by terminating benefits to legal immigrants while continuing to provide medical assistance to similarly situated citizens.

At a news conference on March 11, 2002, the ACLU of Colorado disclosed documents that revealed the existence of the Denver Police Department's "Spy Files." The documents showed that Denver police were monitoring and recording the peaceful protest activities of Denver-area residents and keeping files on the expressive activities of law-abiding advocacy organizations, in many cases falsely labeling them as "criminal extremist."

This case asserts the right of local residents in Costilla County in southeastern Colorado to graze, hunt, fish, and take firewood from a 77,000 acre tract in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains.