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  • On November 21, 2016, 13 Aurora police officers responded to a simple noise complaint at Alberto Torres’s home. As happens all too often, Aurora police officers escalated this minor issue into a brutal affair. They beat Mr. Torres solely because he delayed exiting his garage to ask his wife to interpret for him. With that beating, the lives of Mr. Torres and every member of his family were changed and he has yet to recover. ACLU of Colorado fought to obtain justice for Mr. Torres, and Aurora has now paid him $285,000. But money is not justice, and the brutality of the Aurora Police Department against people of color has continued unabated.

    It doesn’t have to be this way.

    Imagine, if instead of 13 officers being dispatched to Mr. Torres’s home for a noise complaint, the City of Aurora sent a civilian-led response team to check on his welfare and ask that he and his friends lower their sound, resulting in a non-violent solution to a minor issue?

    ACLU Settles Case With Aurora After Police Brutalize and Unlawfully Arrest Alberto Torres

  • Hope is a discipline. It’s a commitment that together, we can create a more perfect union. We won’t rest until we fulfill the promise of equal rights for ALL people in the United States.

    Join us in our fight to fulfill this promise and move forward with hope by donating to the ACLU of Colorado. Your donation supports the ACLU’s strengths that make our work effective and collaborative.

    Donate now at https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-colorado

  • Anthony Martinez is 84-years-old and suffering from renal failure, as well as other serious medical conditions including dementia. He is currently incarcerated in the Sterling Correctional Facility, site of one of Colorado’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks with almost 600 active COVID-19 cases. He and his family are understandably terrified that he will catch the virus and die.

    In the midst of this public health crisis, incarcerated people as vulnerable as Anthony, could and should be immediately released to safely live out their remaining years with family.

    Read more about Anthony Martinez and other at-risk incarcerated people. 

  • Ronald Johnson is pre-diabetic, suffers from asthma and high blood pressure, and regularly uses an inhaler to breathe. His age and respiratory ailments put him at risk of serious illness and death if he contracts COVID-19. With over hundreds of active cases in Colorado’s prisons, his family fears he will not make it out alive. His daughter, Amber, says, “In prison, he can’t protect himself and he can’t social distance. My deep fear is that my dad will die in prison. That is an awful, traumatic reality to consider. My chest is tight just thinking about how quickly it spreads and how vulnerable he is.”

    Governor Hickenlooper shortened his sentence following testimony from family, friends and correctional officers advocating for his early release. Yet, he is still eight years away from parole. While he remains in prison, COVID-19 continues to spread. Ronald’s three siblings, four children and four grandchildren are desperate for his release.

    Read more about Ronald Johnson and other at-risk incarcerated people.

Public Policy & Legislation

During each legislative session, we track numerous bills that address important issues that affect our freedoms, and when appropriate, we provide testimony around these bills in the Colorado House and Senate.

Legislative Updates
Each legislative session, the ACLU of Colorado tracks the bills that impact civil liberties, and where necessary, we take a position of support or opposition. Our Legislative Updates page lists the bills we are most concerned about and their current status in the legislature.

Legislative Database
Our Legislative Database catalogs all the bills we’ve monitored in recent years. Search or browse it to gain historical perspective on all of our legislative victories and defeats.

Legislative Scorecards
In past years, the ACLU of Colorado has published a scorecard for civil liberties. The scorecard highlights many of the bills that we felt had the biggest impact on civil liberties. The voting record of each legislator was included to provide the public with an easy way to see the stance of their elected representatives on many key civil liberties issues.
2019 Scorecard
2018 Scorecard
2017 Scorecard
2016 Scorecard
2015 Scorecard
2014 Scorecard
2013 Scorecard
2009 Scorecard
2008 Scorecard
2007 Scorecard
2006 Scorecard
2005 Scorecard

Stay Informed
To protect and defend civil liberties, we need your help and your voice. To stay informed about our public policy work, please sign up for our email action alerts. We’ll let you know when we need you to stand up and fight for our freedoms.