News & Commentary

In a lawsuit filed today, ACLU lawyers alleged that a Denver police officer’s “recklessly sloppy” police work—which included false statements and crucial omissions in an affidavit the officer submitted to a judge—caused a local woman with no criminal record to be falsely arrested and jailed for an incident with which she had no connection whatsoever.

Guest commentary for the Denver Post by Mark Silverstein and Mindy Barton

The ACLU of Colorado filed suit yesterday against Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario, alleging that the Sheriff unjustifiably prohibited ACLU attorneys from conducting confidential interviews with jail prisoners who wanted to speak with the ACLU.

In response to a routine request for public records filed by the ACLU of Colorado, the City of Colorado Springs filed suit against the ACLU in state district court in Colorado Springs. The lawsuit asks for a ruling that the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) is not required to release the records of an Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) investigation into allegations of serious police misconduct.

As part of a “domestic terrorism” investigation, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted surveillance of a Denver bookstore on February 15, 2003, and monitored 40 persons who gathered there to carpool to an antiwar demonstration in Colorado Springs later that day, according to an FBI report the ACLU of Colorado released today.

Littleton High School junior Bryan Lopez, who was suspended from Littleton High School for posting satirical commentary about the school on the internet, is now back in school after ACLU attorneys reached an agreement with school district officials on Monday evening. The agreement averted a federal court First Amendment lawsuit that ACLU attorneys were prepared to file on Lopez’s behalf on Tuesday morning.

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The ACLU of Colorado announced today that its attorneys will defend Deborah Davis, a Denver-area passenger on a public RTD bus who declined to produce ID and was subsequently arrested, handcuffed, and removed from the bus on September 26 by Homeland Security officers at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood. Ms. Davis is scheduled to appear in federal district court on December 9 to face criminal charges stemming from her failure to show ID.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) announced today that the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) had agreed to resume providing kosher meals to Timothy Sheline, a Jewish prisoner whose kosher food diet was revoked for one year as punishment for allegedly violating a minor dining hall rule.