Court Cases

The ACLU of Colorado sought an emergency order to protect high-risk people in jail from contracting COVID-19.

The Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel filed two emergency petitions today asking the Colorado Supreme Court to take immediate action to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Colorado jails by issuing a directive that lower courts are to do their part to safely reduce the number of people who are incarcerated during this crisis.

This lawsuit, filed on behalf of immigration attorney Jennifer Smith, challenges what ICE describes as its “practice” of denying access to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process when the agency regards the attorney’s client as a “fugitive.”

In this lawsuit, the children of Kamyar Samimi seek to hold the Geo Group accountable for the wrongful death of their father. Mr. Samimi, a Legal Permanent Resident, died in December 2017, after two weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility (ACDF), a for-profit detention center operated by GEO. The ACLU of Colorado’s investigation, which required a lawsuit to force ICE to release records under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed a gut-wrenching picture of his final days and reflected the inhumane conditions and lack of adequate medical care at ACDF.

This lawsuit challenges a Greeley ordinance that bans all pedestrian presence in all medians throughout the city.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a discrimination charge against InnoSource Inc. on behalf of Dashir Moore, a 32-year-old transgender man who was denied health care coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and subsequent transition-related care.

In this case, the ACLU argues that public officials who operate their social media pages as opportunities for constituents to discuss issues of public importance are governed by the First Amendment. Accordingly, public officials cannot block posts from constituents because of the viewpoints they express.

In this First Amendment lawsuit, ACLU lawyers sued the Town of Fraser for prohibiting ACLU clients from posting communicative displays on their property that express their views on social and political issues.

This lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ACLU seeks records requested 16 months earlier related to the arrest, detention, and subsequent in-custody death of Kamyar Samimi.