News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) announced today that its attorneys had filed suit against the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) on behalf of Timothy Sheline, a Jewish prisoner whose kosher food diet was revoked for one year as punishment for allegedly violating a minor dining hall rule.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado released new documents today that it says confirm that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is inappropriately treating peaceful protest as potential terrorism.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado released documents today that it says confirm that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Denver is targeting peaceful political activists for harassment and building files on constitutionally-protected political activities and associations that have nothing to do with terrorism or other criminal activity.

In a letter sent yesterday to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and the members of the Denver City Council, the ACLU of Colorado urged Denver to withdraw its detectives from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

At a news conference held today at the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU), Legal Director Mark Silverstein presented documentary evidence that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”), contrary to its public statements, has been collecting information about the peaceful protest activities of Colorado residents and the constitutionally-protected activities of law-abiding advocacy groups.

Colorado law enforcement agencies have been using electroshock weapons in an abusive and cruel manner that constitutes unnecessary and unreasonable force and in some cases amounts to outright deliberate torture, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein asserted in a letter sent yesterday to the Denver Mayor's Task Force on Police.

Citing an increasing number of in-custody deaths associated with law enforcement use of electroshock weapons, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) called on Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman today to tighten the Department's use-of-force policy and restrict officers' use of the taser to situations that present a true threat to human life or safety.

Relying on the Colorado Open Records Act, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU) filed suit today against the City and County of Denver, seeking disclosure of a document that sets out the terms of the Denver Police Department's participation in the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

On August 15, 2003, the Honorable Lewis Babcock, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, granted the ACLU's request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring the State of Colorado and four local school districts from enforcing Colorado's mandatory Pledge of Allegiance law. Judge Babcock found that the law, which required all public school students and teachers to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of every school day, was very likely to be found in violation of the Constitution.