DENVER — The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on February 24, 2026 in favor of Jacqueline “Jax” Armendariz Unzueta and the Chinook Center in their lawsuit against the city of Colorado Springs and its police officers over the searches and seizures of their digital devices and data after the activists participated in a march for housing rights. Officers seized Armendariz Unzueta’s computers, hard drives, and cell phones without probable cause and then searched them for keywords such as “human,” “right,” “protest,” and “cop.” They also searched the Chinook Center’s Facebook account. The Court of Appeals described the city’s search warrants as overbroad “wide-ranging exploratory searches” that the Fourth Amendment was designed to prohibit and rejected the officers’ assertions of qualified immunity.
Colorado Springs and its officers must now face accountability for their unlawful conduct in further proceedings before the District Court.
“This decision makes it clear: police cannot seize and search the electronic devices of ordinary citizens without probable cause and without complying with the constitution,” said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director. “Our State and federal constitutions were drafted to guard against precisely these types of invasive and overbroad searches. The Tenth Circuit recognized the profound harm these searches cause and upheld the foundational principles of our constitution, which are so important in this time of government overreach and widespread digital surveillance.”
In July 2021, Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) officers targeted and arrested activists for marching in the street during a housing rights demonstration. CSPD weaponized the minor criminal charges to execute dragnet search warrants against Armendariz Unzueta and the Chinook Center, who participated in the march. Prior to the march, in the summer of 2020, the FBI also enlisted a local police officer to infiltrate the Chinook Center.
"I've held hope for accountability in my heart every day since we filed this case more than two years ago. This decision reaffirms that police must be held accountable for violating my civil rights," Armendariz Unzueta said. "No one could've anticipated just how much this case has been a terrible foreshadowing of our political circumstances today. The continued need to fight to protect our civil rights, and our democracy is painfully apparent. I am proud to stand with the ACLU of Colorado and my Colorado Springs community as this journey continues."
ACLU of Colorado sued the city of Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs police officers involved, and the FBI in August 2023 in District Court, arguing that the searches and seizures violated the Fourth Amendment and the Colorado Constitution. After the district court ruled in favor of the defendants, ACLU of Colorado lawyers appealed in August 2024.
“I was proud to argue this case at the Tenth Circuit in partnership with the ACLU of Colorado, and I am very pleased the majority reached the right result for our clients,” said Theresa Wardon Benz of Davis Graham & Stubbs.
In addition to Macdonald, the legal team includes ACLU of Colorado senior staff attorneys Annie Kurtz and Sara Neel, legal director emeritus Mark Silverstein, and ACLU cooperating attorneys Jackie Roeder, Theresa Wardon Benz, Hannah McCrory and Kylie Putnam of Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP.
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