Category Archives: Issues

ACLU of Colorado is deeply saddened by the death of Judd Golden, 70, on January 28, 2020. Judd was killed in a head-on collision on I-25 north of Pueblo when another car crossed the median. A long-time ACLU leader and volunteer, Judd was head of the Boulder Chapter of the ACLU for 20 years and a member of the chapter beginning in 1985. He was a volunteer cooperating attorney with the ACLU of Iowa starting in 1974, and moved to Colorado in 1984 as the Mountain States Counsel, a national ACLU staff.... | Read More

At the Capitol and in a recent op-ed, the Division of Youth Services has reaffirmed its commitment to culture change in DYS facilities. DYS has also put forward a plan to break down Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center into smaller facilities, to allow critical culture change to take root. These are the right steps to ensure safe and effective environments in DYS facilities, including Lookout Mountain. The call for culture change in Colorado’s juvenile facilities has been gaining momentum.... | Read More

DENVER – After more than three years of litigation, the federal district court in Colorado agreed with the ACLU that ICE has been repeatedly violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by denying immigration lawyers access to their clients’ files when ICE deemed the clients to be “fugitives.” In an extensive 44-page ruling, the court issued a final judgment and imposed a permanent nationwide injunction against the challenged practice.  “ICE invented a reason for nondisclosure that.... | Read More

DENVER – An ACLU of Colorado report released today highlights 22 stories of families whose loved ones were murdered and why, in the face of such tragedy, they firmly oppose the death penalty. The death penalty is an expensive, ineffective and unjust process that harms victims’ families. Over the course of decades, victims’ families are forced to navigate a complicated legal process and relive the trauma of their loved one’s murder. “There was a trial for the killer’s accomplice that dragged.... | Read More

2020 is here, and this will be a very important year for the ACLU, Colorado and our nation. Here are seven ACLU of Colorado resolutions for the New Year to help guide our work and yours: Bring Our Neighbors Home. The majority of people in Colorado jails are not there because they have been convicted of a crime. The majority are legally innocent and only incarcerated because they can’t afford to pay a monetary bond. As the Colorado legislative session begins this week, the ACLU of Colorado.... | Read More

December 10, 2019 DENVER — The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Colorado, Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP, and Towards Justice filed two companion lawsuits against Frontier Airlines today for systematically denying its employees basic accommodations for pregnancy and breastfeeding. The lawsuits, filed today by four Frontier pilots and four flight attendants, challenge a host of policies that harm pregnant or breastfeeding employees. Frontier has penalized flight attendants for.... | Read More

November 12, 2019 DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit today against the GEO Group, Inc., for the wrongful death of Kamyar Samimi. Mr. Samimi, a Legal Permanent Resident, died in December 2017, after two weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility (ACDF), a for-profit detention center operated by GEO. The ACLU of Colorado’s investigation, which included a lawsuit for records related to Mr. Samimi’s death, revealed a.... | Read More

DENVER – The City of Greeley has repealed an ordinance that banned pedestrians from being present on traffic medians “for longer than necessary to cross the street” following a lawsuit by ACLU of Colorado. In the lawsuit filed last month, ACLU lawyers asserted that the “median ban” violated the free speech rights of those engaging in expressive conduct on traffic medians, including individuals soliciting for charity.  “Greeley adopted the median ban to target people experiencing poverty,.... | Read More

DENVER – The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado announced a settlement this morning on behalf of Dashir Moore, a transgender man who was denied healthcare coverage for treatment for gender dysphoria by his former employer. Mr. Moore filed a charge of discrimination against the company because its health care plan categorically excluded coverage for anything related to gender transition, leaving Mr. Moore on the hook for a $30,000 surgery. The company.... | Read More

On December 2, Kamyar Samimi died an agonizing death in ICE custody at the immigration detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, operated by the GEO Group, a for-profit prison corporation. Yesterday, after a long and thorough investigation, ACLU of Colorado released our report, Cashing in on Cruelty: Stories of death, abuse and neglect at the GEO immigration detention facility in Aurora, which not only tells Samimi’s story, but also reveals many other stories of abuse, neglect and inadequate medical.... | Read More