DENVER – A county court judge ruled this morning that Denver’s park exclusion directive is unconstitutional because it denies fundamental rights to due process.  The court dismissed all charges against Troy Holm, an ACLU of Colorado client who faced a year in jail for entering a park after he was banned under the directive.

“By authorizing police to issue so-called suspension notices that immediately made it a crime to enter a public park, Denver attempted an end-run around the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director.  “The court’s ruling affirms a bedrock principle of due process: the government cannot take away our rights without first providing, at a minimum, notice of the accusation and a fair opportunity to defend against it.”

The temporary exclusion directive was initiated by the Parks Department without an ordinance or vote of the City Council on September 1, 2016.  It authorized police to summarily banish people from city parks without a hearing, conviction, or other due process, based on mere suspicion of illegal drug activity.  According to the directive, a person “need not be charged, tried or convicted of any crime, infraction, or administrative citation” for a suspension notice to be issued or effective.

Denver officials justified the directive as necessary to combat what they characterized as a “huge epidemic of heroin use” and associated violent behavior in the parks, but an ACLU review of every suspension notice issued in the first five months of the directive revealed that expulsions primarily targeted persons experiencing homelessness who were suspected of simple consumption or possession of marijuana.  This despite a pledge in writing from the Denver City Attorney’s office to the ACLU that the “illegal drug activity” targeted by the program would not include marijuana.

On October 14, a police officer handed Troy Holm a suspension notice based on suspicion of marijuana use. Two days later, he was charged with a misdemeanor for violating the notice and for trespassing simply because he re-entered the same park.  The ACLU of Colorado filed a motion to dismiss on Holm’s behalf in December, challenging the constitutionality of the charges and the directive.

In siding with the ACLU of Colorado and dismissing the charges, the Court ruled today that, “As the park suspensions under Temporary Directive 2016-1 take effect immediately, within the pure unchecked discretion of any police officer on the scene, and with a complete lack of pre-deprivation Due Process, the suspensions violate procedural Due Process protections and are found unconstitutional for this reason.”

“As the court’s dismissal recognizes, Denver’s policy of banishing people from public places on the spot was an unconstitutional violation of Denver residents’ rights,” said ACLU of Colorado cooperating attorney Adam Frank, who represented Holm in court. “The judge’s order sends a strong message to the City of Denver that it cannot violate people’s rights with impunity.”

more on this case

DENVER – In a letter sent today, the ACLU of Colorado called on the Fort Collins City Council to abandon an “outrageous, cruel, and absurd” proposed ordinance that would make it a crime, punishable by up to 6 months in jail and fines of up to $2650, to sit, kneel, or lie down in a large portion of downtown, to sit for too long on public benches, or to have more “attended property” than a person can carry, such as a shopping cart filled with possessions.

“The intention of this ordinance is clear.  It is designed to give police tools to harass, arrest, and remove people who are homeless from downtown Fort Collins,” said ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley. “People do not lose their right to exist when they lose a home.  Fort Collins should abandon this ill-conceived ordinance and focus its resources instead on real solutions to poverty and homelessness.”

The so-called “disruptive behavior” ordinance would make it a jailable offense to sit, kneel, or lie down within 20 feet of any commercial property or pedestrian walkway or to sit for more than an hour on chairs and public benches or to use them for “any purpose other than sitting.” The ordinance also includes a vaguely-worded prohibition on “unattended property” and language criminalizing the possession of “attended property” unless it is “less than or equal to an amount that may reasonably be expected to be hand-carried by a single adult.”

Along with the proposed ordinance, the Council is considering spending up to $150,000 a year in city funds to purchase beds in the Larimer County Jail to house “repeat municipal offenders.”

“It’s absurd to think that sitting down or having more possessions than a person can carry are disruptive behaviors that must be criminalized,” said Woodliff-Stanley. “Equal enforcement of such a vague and incomprehensible law would be impossible.  It is all but certain that the ordinance would be enforced in a discriminatory manner, ignoring the actions of people who have money while harassing those who appear homeless, poor, or of an undesired ethnicity, opening the city to potential liability as a result.”

In March 2015, Fort Collins settled a lawsuit with the ACLU of Colorado following revelations that the city had enforced its panhandling law predominantly against individuals who peacefully asked for charity by displaying a sign, an activity that is protected by the First Amendment and that was not prohibited by the panhandling ordinance.  The city agreed to repeal portions of its ordinance, pay the ACLU of Colorado’s legal fees, and stop arresting, ticketing, citing, or interfering with the rights of people who peacefully ask for charity.

The City of Fort Collins posted an online survey and will host an open house event on Thursday, Feb. 23^rd at Northside Aztlan from 6-7:30 pm to receive community input on the proposed ordinance.

Resources:

• Read the ACLU of Colorado letter: http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-02-17-FC-City-Council-ACLU-FC-sit-lie-ordinance.pdf
• Read ACLU Announces Settlement with Fort Collins over Panhandling Law

FOIA Filed As Part of Coordinated Campaign with 50 ACLU Affiliates

DENVER 2/2/17 — The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request today with its local U.S. Customs and Border Protection office (CBP) to reveal how Trump administration officials are interpreting and executing the president’s immigration ban, and whether they are complying with orders from federal courts partially staying the ban’s implementation. The filing today is part of a coordinated effort from 50 ACLU affiliates, which filed FOIA requests with 18 CBP field offices and its headquarters spanning 55 international airports across the country.
“President Trump’s unconstitutional and un-American immigration ban has created chaos, confusion, and hardship across the country, and there are unanswered questions about how it is being implemented and whether court-issued stays on detention and deportation are being followed,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein. “The public has a right to know what guidance the agents are receiving and where exactly it is coming from.”
Media reports indicate that CBP officials detained and deported individuals, even after federal courts ordered officials to stop enforcing the executive order following court challenges from the ACLU and other organizations.
“It is imperative that the public learn if federal immigration officials are blatantly defying nationwide federal court orders that block President Trump’s unconstitutional immigration ban,” said Mitra Ebadolahi, Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney with the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. “To shed light on this critical issue of pressing public concern, 50 ACLU affiliates are using the Freedom of Information Act to expose Customs and Border Protection’s abuse of power.”
The Trump administration has yet to inform the public of how many refugees, visa holders, and legal permanent residents have been affected by this action.
The ACLU of Colorado joined ACLU affiliates in Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Alaska to file a FOIA request with the US Customs and Border Protection office which covers points of entry in those states.
The FOIA request can be found here: http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-02-02-CBP-ACLU-of-CO.pdf