News & Commentary

Christina Ann FourHorn is 34 years old and lives in Sterling, Colorado with her husband and daughter. In addition to being a full-time wife and mom, Christina also works full time at night taking care of disabled adults.On March 12, 2007, Christina was in the showe

The ACLU of Colorado announced today that it has settled a lawsuit against Denver that sought the policy and procedure manual that governs the processing and treatment of detainees at Denver’s downtown city jail, known as the Pre-Arraignment Detention Facility, or PADF. As part of the settlement, Denver agreed to disclose all portions of the manual designated by the ACLU, and to pay $5,000 of the ACLU of Colorado’s attorney fees and costs. The PADF is Denver’s intake center, where arrestees are first taken to be booked, fingerprinted, given the opportunity to post bond, and housed until they are released or eventually transferred to Denver’s larger county jail.

A spokesperson for the ACLU of Colorado announced today that it welcomes a decision of the Boulder Valley School District (“BVSD”) to limit searches of students’ cell phone text messages, an issue the ACLU raised in a letter made public in October, 2007. In that letter, the ACLU asserted that non-consensual searches of text messages violate a Colorado criminal statute designed to protect the privacy of telephone and electronic communications.

The ACLU of Colorado announced today a tentative agreement to resolve a lawsuit its attorneys filed against Denver police officer Timothy Scudder earlier this year. The agreement, which must still be approved by the Denver City Council, calls for additional training, changes in the police department’s Operations Manual, and compensation for the ACLU’s client, Valerie Rodriguez.

Citing constitutional protections of expression, the ACLU of Colorado announced today that its attorneys will to go court to defend Mike Mahaney, an Englewood shop owner whose mural depicting an Alice in Wonderland scene has prompted controversy and citations for allegedly violating the City’s sign code.

In an open letter to the University of Colorado Board of Regents released today, the ACLU and the ACLU of Colorado urged the Board to reject the recommendation of CU President Hank Brown to terminate Professor Ward Churchill. President Brown’s decision ran counter to the majority of the Appeals Panel of the Privilege and Tenure Committee, which concluded that dismissal was not warranted.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Denver today, ACLU lawyers alleged that a Colorado Springs police officer used his heavy police-issued metal flashlight to administer a vicious beating to the ACLU’s client, Delvikio Faulkner, a young African American who was riding with two other young men in a car that was initially stopped for a minor traffic violation.

Today the ACLU of Colorado announced a settlement with the City of Denver over the arrest and imprisonment of a student who was handcuffed, arrested and forced to spend a night in jail simply for asking for a Denver police officer’s business card.

DENVER, CO - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a complaint against three White House staffers for illegally ejecting Denver residents from a taxpayer-funded town hall with President Bush, even though they had done nothing to disrupt the event. The residents, who have been dubbed the “Denver 3” by the media, were singled out because of an anti-war bumper sticker on their car.