Court Cases

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.