News

https://soundcloud.com/thepurplestatereport/scotus-and-life-after-roe With Justice Kennedy’s retirement and Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court there are a lot of anxieties about civil liberties in general, but specifically reproductive rights. On this episode, ACLU of Colorado Reproductive Rights Campaign Coordinator Delana Maynes interviews Reproductive Rights Policy Council Lizzy Hinkley on the real possibility that the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade. Later.... | Read More

DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit today against Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell alleging that he is violating Colorado law by continuing to jail an individual who is eligible for release, at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).   Leonardo Canseco is charged with two misdemeanors, and the Teller County Court set his bond at $800. According to the lawsuit, the sheriff is acting on a detainer request from federal immigration authorities, who suspect that.... | Read More

A Note from Public Policy Director Denise Maes Colorado’s legislative session is 120 days and a great deal happens in these mere four months that affect many Coloradans. For example, in the 2018 session, transportation and education saw unprecedented gains in funding. The legislature infused $645 million into multi-modal transportation and infrastructure and increased per pupil funding by $469 per student. Civil liberties legislation rarely gets much attention. The one exception this year.... | Read More

https://soundcloud.com/thepurplestatereport/dispatch-from-the-border   On June 30th, thousands of Coloradans across the state rallied to urge an end to President Trump’s cruel policy of family separation. On this podcast, John sits down with Alejandra who traveled to the US/Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas to see firsthand the impact Trump’s zero-tolerance policy has had on families seeking asylum. Afterward, we will listen to Alejandra’s interview with a 9-year-old child who came.... | Read More

DENVER – The District Attorney’s Office of the 18th District announced yesterday via Twitter that it will dismiss the "criminal tampering" charge against Shauna Johnson, a mother of two who wrote “STOP PUTTING KIDS IN CAGES” in chalk on the sidewalk outside of Rep. Ken Buck’s Castle Rock District Office. The DA’s office wrote that it reviewed the case, and “determined that justice would be a dismissal.” Statement from ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein: “We.... | Read More

DENVER - The City of Aurora has agreed to pay $75,000 to ACLU of Colorado clients Omar Hassan and Dwight Crews, two black men who sued over separate incidents of mistreatment by the Aurora Police Department. According to an ACLU lawsuit filed in September 2017, two Aurora police officers ordered Hassan to leave a coffee shop after telling him, “Your kind of business is not welcome here.”  He will receive $40,000. Crews, a disabled 60-year-old man, was removed from his home without a warrant.... | Read More