The ACLU of Colorado’s Legal Department works to protect and defend civil liberties through litigation as well as legal advocacy outside the courtroom. With only three full-time attorneys on staff, the ACLU also relies on the work of dedicated volunteer cooperating attorneys from around the state who are willing to donate their time and talent to assist our struggle for liberty.
Litigation & Legal Advocacy
Provino v. Big League Haircuts
The ACLU of Colorado and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project filed suit on behalf of Ashley Provino, a Grand Junction woman who was fired from her job, in violation of state and federal anti-discrimination laws, for asserting her right to pump breast milk at work.
Provino, a new mother, requested permission from her employer, Big League Haircuts, to....
Women’s Rights
Valdez v. Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office
Claudia Valdez called Arapahoe County Police in July 2012, when a domestic dispute with her husband turned physical. When law enforcement arrived on the scene, they arrested Valdez and took her to jail. After her husband admitted in court the next morning that he had been the aggressor, a judge ordered Valdez’s release. Rather than release Valdez,....
End Immigration Detainers
ICE Detainers
A letter was sent to Denver Sheriff Gary Wilson requesting that Denver County stop honoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers, which are requests by the federal government that states and municipalities hold prisoners until ICE can determine their immigration status, often past the time they would otherwise be released . The letter....
Criminal Justice, End Immigration Detainers, Immigrants’ Rights
Challenge to Grand Junction Anti-Panhandling Ordinance
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed suit in federal district court challenging the City of Grand Junction's anti-panhandling ordinance, which bans a wide swath of speech that is protected by the First Amendment.
Although Grand Junction officials have claimed that the ordinance aims only at “aggressive” panhandling, the ACLU contends....
Criminal Justice, Criminalization of Homelessness, Freedom of Expression & Religion
DISH Network Accommodation of Nursing Mothers
The ACLU of Colorado sent a letter on March 12, 2014 to DISH Network documenting multiple failures to accommodate nursing mothers at the company’s corporate headquarters in Englewood, where employees are forced to pump breast milk in front of their co-workers and supervisors, without privacy screens or curtains, and at a DISH Network call center in....
Women’s Rights
Debtors’ Prisons
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sent letters to three Front Range cities demanding a prompt halt to the illegal practice of jailing poor people for failing to pay court-ordered fines. The ACLU conducted an in-depth investigation into the municipal courts of Westminster, Wheat Ridge, and Northglenn, and found that each city routinely issues....
Criminal Justice, End Debtors' Prisons