Court Cases

In this lawsuit against Colorado Springs police officers and the City of Colorado Springs, the ACLU of Colorado charged that two Black clients, Ryan and Benjamin Brown, were victims of the police department’s “custom and practice” of engaging in racially-biased policing and carrying out groundless, racially-motivated stops and searches.

ACLU attorneys filed this lawsuit against the City of Trinidad on behalf of two innocent women who were falsely arrested and prosecuted as part of a highly-publicized “drug sting” in December, 2013.

The Wheat Ridge Municipal Court violated a Colorado law banning debtor’s prison practices by sentencing a homeless man to jail because he could not pay a fine, according to a filing made on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

ACLU client James Fisher was a victim of the unfair and unconstitutional debtors’ prison practices of municipal courts that ACLU of Colorado has criticized for years.

In this case, the ACLU of Colorado charged that Colorado Springs has been routinely violating the United States Constitution and Colorado law by jailing hundreds of people because they are too poor to pay court-ordered fines and fees.

In this case, ACLU attorneys challenged an Englewood ordinance that makes it a crime for registered sex offenders to live within 2,000 feet of any school, park, or playground, or 1,000 feet of any licensed day care center, recreation center, or swimming pool. As a practical matter, the ordinance bans previously convicted sex offenders from living in the city.

An ACLU investigation revealed that the Colorado Springs Police Department, the City Attorney’s Office, and the City’s Municipal Court are illegally enforcing the City’s panhandling laws against hundreds of impoverished people who have not violated those laws.

ACLU lawyers filed suit in federal court just five days before Grand Junction's new panhandling ordinance was scheduled to go into effect.

On February 10, 2015, ACLU of Colorado filed a class action lawsuit challenging an anti-panhandling ordinance that is being widely enforced by Fort Collins, in violation of the free speech rights of people who are impoverished and homeless, as well as street performers and non-profit canvassers.