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.

This lawsuit, in which ACLU lawyers participated as intervenors, is closely related to the ACLU’s challenge to the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, the voucher program adopted by the Douglas County School District (DCSD) in 2011 that would channel public money to private religious schools.

The ACLU of Colorado filed suit on behalf of Danny Ledonne, a former professor who was banned by school officials from the Adams State University campus in Alamosa, Colorado, after he created a website criticizing various university administration practices.

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.

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

The ACLU of Colorado and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project filed suit on behalf of Ashley Provino, a Grand Junction woman who was fired from her job, in violation of state and federal anti-discrimination laws, for asserting her right to pump breast milk at work.

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.