American Civil Liberties Union

Marijuana magazines as porn rule officially struck down at no cost to taxpayers

As we've reported, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers determined that a new marijuana-law provision that treated pot magazines like porn was unconstitutional shortly after it was targeted by a pair of lawsuits -- the first from publications like High Times, the second courtesy of the ACLU, repre ... More >>

Sexual misconduct at Denver women's prison: Why is the claimed rate so high?

A new government report on the rate of sexual victimization in America's jails and prisons lists the Denver Women's Correctional Facility as having the highest rate of sexual assault and misconduct by staff of any lockup in the nation -- four times the national average, in fact. That figure is dism ... More >>

Court stops Colorado Springs "no-solicitation zone" because of free speech concerns

Colorado Springs is trying to clean up its downtown by banning panhandling and soliciting, but there's one problem with that plan: The ordinance would violate the First Amendment -- at least according to the American Civil Liberties Union. And in the first major ruling on that issue, a federal distr ... More >>

Colorado Springs not yet enforcing law against panhandling -- but is "educating" people

Last week, we reported on a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union against Colorado Springs, which is pushing forward with a controversial anti-panhandling law that critics see as violating free-speech rights. The city says it won't start enforcement for a few weeks, but will begin educatio ... More >>

ACLU announces breastfeeding settlement with Jeffco school claiming it did nothing wrong

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado announced today that it has reached a settlement with a Jefferson County charter school that allegedly refused to renew a teacher's contract after she complained about a lack of breastfeeding accommodations. The ACLU and the woman at the center of this ... More >>

ACLU says Boulder can't require permission for protesters to use parks

The Boulder County ACLU has come out in firm opposition to a proposed ordinance that would require approval from the city manager to allow protesters to gather in city parks. Although the topic is still in the brainstorming stages and won't merit a decision for months, its opponents fear it could pl ... More >>

Occupy Denver: ACLU demands formal investigation of police conduct, pepper ball guns

This morning, the ACLU of Colorado requested a formal investigation of the Denver Police Department's conduct with Occupy Denver during the past six and a half months. The complaint, delivered to Police Chief Robert White and the Office of the Independent Monitor, cites both First Amendment freedoms ... More >>

ACLU, faith groups urge governors not to sell out to private prison giant

A broad proposal by the country's largest private prison company to buy up and privatize state prisons has been met with a stiff rebuke from the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of justice policy and religious groups, who are urging all fifty state governors to reject the company's "in ... More >>

Boulder County ACLU pushes penalty reductions for minor legal violations

The Boulder City Council is considering a proposal to reduce penalties for sixty minor legal violations such as littering and throwing rocks. Under ordinance 7831, first and second time offenders would no longer face jail time, though their rights to a trial by jury would be changed to a single judg ... More >>

Boulder approves penalty reduction for sixty municipal offenses, ACLU wants forty more

Tuesday night, Boulder City Council reduced fines and approved no jail time for first and second convictions on sixty municipal offenses -- an effort to prevent a flood of minor cases (like Occupy Boulder camping tickets) from filling courtrooms. Some aspects of these changes please the ACLU of Bou ... More >>

Reader: Occupy Denver legal team member calls out ACLU over civil-rights case claims

​Kelsey Whipple's recent post about Occupy Denver's legal team exploring legal precedents involving tents as examples of speech drew a sharp response from a member of the occupation's Legal Issues Working Group. His post focuses on both the aforementioned lawyers and the ACLU, which he feels c ... More >>

Occupy Denver: ACLU investigating the seizure of personal property during most recent raid

​One week after the Colorado ACLU launched an investigation into the constitutionality of police action at Occupy Denver, the group has yet to receive the records it requested from the Denver Police Department and the Colorado State Patrol. In the meantime, the ACLU is researching a secondary ... More >>

Occupy Denver: ACLU investigates constitutionality and safety of police action

Phillip Becerra.​Colorado ACLU communications director Rosemary Harris Lytle confirms her organization has launched an investigation of "an escalation of police force" at Occupy Denver -- like, for example, the shooting of Phillip Becarra, seen here, with pepper bullets. The ACLU has expressed ... More >>

ACLU urges schools to adopt policy banning school police officers from working with ICE

​ The American Civil Liberties Union has jumped in on the debate simmering in Carbondale and Glenwood Springs over whether school resource officers should be allowed to collaborate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act endorsed by ACLU, petition signatures reach 60,000

Mason Tvert.​The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 hasn't sparked up love from all pro-marijuana activists, but it continues to win support from other sources. According to Regulate proponent Mason Tvert, the latest organizations to endorse the measure are the American Civil Libertie ... More >>

School voucher program stopped: Dougco appeal would waste taxpayer money, ACLU says

Michael Martinez.​"School Vouchers on Hold" read a weekend headline in the print Denver Post. But while plaintiffs, including the Colorado branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, technically requested a preliminary injunction to stop the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program, Judge ... More >>

Settling police and sheriff claims cost Denver $10 million since 2002, ACLU finds

Alex Landau.​As detailed in last week's feature on Independent Monitor Richard Rosenthal, Denver is in the midst of a police-misconduct story that won't go away. Now, as part of its "Race to Justice" police brutality awareness campaign, the ACLU tracked down all city payouts for police-relate ... More >>

ACLU objects to Ken Buck's comments after $295K Operations Numbers Game settlement

Ken Buck.​In 2008, the Weld County Sheriff's Office raided Amalia's Translation and Tax Service in Greeley as part of Operations Numbers Game, an effort to bust identity thieves who were also undocumented immigrants. The ACLU filed suit over the action -- and this week, Weld District Attorney/ ... More >>

Top 10 Colorado license plates worth paying for

​Today's Denver Post reports on a proposal to let Colorado drivers bid for the most sought-after vanity plates. But which ones would bring in the most dough? We've got some ideas about that. Here's our top ten.

Boulder County pays ACLU $65,000 to settle lawsuit over postcard-only jail policy

​This week, the Boulder County jail is expected to formally end its policy of restricting inmate mail to postcards only -- and commissioners agreed to pay the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado $65,000 to settle a lawsuit over an issue that an ACLU spokeswoman hopes is now dead in the ... More >>

El Paso County Jail's postcard-only policy is returned to sender

​Prisoners in El Paso County got an early Christmas present yesterday, when county officials agreed to stop limiting outgoing inmate mail to just postcards. The ACLU had filed suit against that policy, which the El Paso County Jail adopted this summer, arguing that such restrictions for prison ... More >>

Solitary confinement study "deeply flawed," says ACLU

​As reported here last summer, a controversial state study suggesting no harmful psychological effects from solitary confinement was drawing heated protests from prison activists even before it was published. Now that it's been released, psychiatric experts and the ACLU of Colorado are saying ... More >>

"Marriage is so gay" T-shirt: Colorado Springs' Falcon High School drops ban after ACLU letter

Large photo below.​Update: Well, that didn't take long. Only hours after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to an El Paso County school district demanding that Falcon High School student Kate Cohn be allowed to wear a T-shirt that reads "marriage is so gay," the principal who ori ... More >>

Reader: ICE is racist because agency targets Spanish speakers, ignores whites with no papers

​Some interesting comments on our post about the ACLU filing a complaint against Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detaining a busload of Spanish speakers heading to an Amway Convention. Here are two of the most pointed.

ACLU files claim against ICE for harassing U.S. citizens en route to Amway convention

​Today, the American Civil Liberties Union announced a formal administrative complaint against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over an April incident during which dozens of Spanish speakers aboard a Denver charter bus were detained under suspicion of human smuggling. Turns out the ri ... More >>

Perry Speelman: Denver Police Sgt. accused of racial profiling costs city another $24,000

​In April, Alan Prendergast reported about Sgt. Perry Speelman, one of the defendants in a 2004 racial profiling lawsuit the city settled for $75,000. Tonight, Denver City Council will pay another $24,000 over similar allegations.

ACLU stands up for right of Colorado Springs middle schooler to wear rosary at public school

Flickr​Critics of the ACLU portray the organization as an apologist for flag burners. As such, the group loves to show it's about principles, not ideology. Case in point: Its defense of Cainan Gostnell, a Colorado Springs student whose middle school has banned wearing religious symbols like ro ... More >>

"Labia lift" strip searches: ACLU action gooses prison officials into changing degrading policy

Krystal Voss​Even under the best of circumstances, prison is an exercise in humiliation. But life just got a little less nasty for female inmates at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, who no longer have to spread open their genitalia for invasive cavity searches after a family visit. P ... More >>

Labia-lift searches of female prisoners have to stop, ACLU tells Ari Zavaras

​A few months ago we first reported on the "labia lift" -- an extremely invasive search process that the Colorado Department of Corrections has started using at its Denver women's prison. Now the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has taken notice -- and demanded that the DOC immedia ... More >>

ACLU suing Boulder over postcards-only policy for inmates

Gino Rael.​In January, registered sex offender Gino Rael was accused of trying to recruit young girls in letters sent from Boulder County jail. Division Chief Larry Hank told Westword he thought such a situation could be prevented by restricting inmates to sending only postcards. But if this ... More >>

Thomas Mink and The Howling Pig: ACLU's illegal search case moves forward six years later

"Junius Puke" in "The Howling Pig."​In December 2003, the Ault, Colorado home onetime UNC student Thomas Mink shared with his mom was raided by police. His crime? Satirizing a UNC professor named Junius Peake as "Junius Puke" in his self-published newsletter, The Howling Pig. Thus began a cou ... More >>

Nudity and mask-wearing ban proposal: ACLU says decorum rules go too far

Seth Brigham being arrested in February.​The February arrest of Seth Brigham, who stripped to his boxers at a Boulder city council meeting in reference to a possible nudity ban, has led to proposed rules of decorum that prohibit disrobing and more. To Judd Golden of Boulder's ACLU branch, the ... More >>

ACLU puts out travel alert for people traveling to Arizona due to new "racial-profiling" law

Joe Arpaio.​Planning on traveling to Arizona over the upcoming holiday weekend? A fan of dry heat? The American Civil Liberties Union, joined by the Colorado branch, has issued a travel advisory due to the recent passage of SB 1070, which the organization describes as "Arizona's racial-profili ... More >>

ACLU challenging Boulder's practice of ticketing homeless people for sleeping outside

​The ACLU is challenging a Boulder ordinance that penalizes homeless people for sleeping outside under the cover of blankets -- even when the city's homeless shelter is full. That's what happened to David Madison. He was ticketed last November under the city's controversial camping ban for s ... More >>

ACLU settles suit over Denver police complaint records

​On the eve of going to court in its effort to protect internal investigations records of police officers from public scrutiny, the City of Denver has agreed to settle a lawsuit by forking over many of the documents sought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

An Opportunity to Stand Up

ACLU sues Jeffco sheriff Ted Mink, says he unlawfully imprisoned man for 47 days

Ted Mink allegedly held a man for over a month without charges.​The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit against the Jefferson County Sheriff, accusing him of illegally detaining a man for 47 days for the suspicion that he was an illegal immigrant. Sheriff Ted Mink, the ... More >>

ACLU wins settlement with Jeffco sheriff's office over Nobama shirt student

Blake Benson rocks his Nobama duds.​Conservatives like to portray the American Civil Liberties Union as a bunch of dangerous lefties with a decidedly progressive agenda rather than principles that transcend the politics of the moment. But that argument was dinged today, when the ACLU's Colora ... More >>

ACLU sues Denver for alleged false arrests during Democratic National Convention

Signs of recent times.​It's been a year since the Democratic National Convention took over this town -- and to mark that anniversary, the Colorado branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has taken two legal actions. In the first, an ACLU lawyer is representing eight people in a suit again ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: FU, Senator Brophy

According to state senator Greg Brophy's blog, "he's been called one of the most conservative members of the legislature and a Prius driving, bicycle riding, eco freak. You decide." But first read this, and you might come up with a couple of other descriptors. On April 24, he recounted the tale o ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: More scary stuff at DIA

The devil horse. The one-world murals. The underground tunnels where aliens (the extraterrestrial ones) hang out. Yes, Denver International Airport has a lot of scary stuff. Starting with the name of its terminal: Jeppesen. It was supposed to honor pioneering aviation navigator Elrey Jeppesen, wh ... More >>

Politics get raw at the Hamburger Mary's debate

Some Notable Facts from the DNC Security Trial

Carded: Supreme Court OKs Voter Photo ID

Evolution's Merry-Go-Round

Modern Muse forcefully revisits the suddenly timely Inherit the Wind.

Off Limits

Burn, baby, burn

Embracing the Future

Traveling out of DIA continues to be a frisky business.

Last But Not Yeast

The DPD's binge-and-purge problem continues.

Blinded by Science

Boulder throws another Barbie on the fire.

FIGHTING IT OUT IN BOULDER

STREET PEOPLE IN THE COLLEGE TOWN ENLIST HELP IN THEIR BATTLE AGAINST THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.