Court Cases

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.

The ACLU of Colorado has joined an appeal with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and immigration lawyer Kelli Stump challenging the denial of a writ of habeas corpus filed on behalf of a noncitizen wrongfully detained in Oklahoma.

The ACLU of Colorado joined the Innocence Project and the Korey Wise Innocence Project to submit Amici Briefs in support of challenges to the admissibility of firearm toolmark analysis.

The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit against an Aurora landlord after repeated threats to report tenants to immigration authorities. The court entered a preliminary injunction ordering the landlord not to threaten, harass, or retaliate our clients, including through disclosure of information about their immigration or citizenship status. The landlord then petitioned for bankruptcy, and the ACLU case is stayed in state court while that proceeding progresses. The preliminary injunction remains in full force and effect.

The ACLU of Colorado filed an amicus brief arguing that Colorado’s Sexually Violent Predator designation is punishment.

In a precedent setting opinion, the court stated that “the use of less-lethal munitions—as with any other type of pain-inflicting compliance technique—is unconstitutionally excessive force when applied to an unthreatening protester who has neither committed a serious offense nor attempted to flee."

The ACLU of Colorado filed an amicus brief urging the Colorado Supreme Court to conclude that Colorado state protections preempt municipal sentencing schemes that punish identical conduct more harshly and such schemes violate Colorado’s longstanding equal protection guarantee. On December 22, 2025, the Court held that municipalities may not authorize harsher sentences than state law allows for an identical offense.

The ACLU of Colorado filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the enforcement of President Trump’s recent executive order targeting National Public Radio (NPR) and threatening local public radio stations.

The ACLU of Colorado sent a letter to the City of Westminster regarding its likely unconstitutional ordinance limiting solicitation on public streets and intersections.