DENVER - After 26 years fighting to exp和 和 protect Coloradans' civil rights 和 civil liberties, 马克西尔弗斯坦, the Legal Director of the ACLU of Colorado, has announced his upcoming retirement. He will stay on the job while the organization conducts a national search for a new Legal Director 和 will then assume a new role as Legal Director Emeritus.
Silverstein has been an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union for 31 years. He was named Legal Director in Colorado in 1996 after five years as a staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California.
在Silverstein任职期间, the ACLU of Colorado legal team, bolstered by scores of volunteer attorneys, has litigated hundreds of cases to defend 和 exp和 the civil liberties 和 constitutional rights of Coloradans. These cases challenged a myriad of abuses of power at all levels of Colorado government, 针对种族定性, 非法搜查, 毫无根据的逮捕, 警察殴打, 和 arbitrary deprivations of liberty, while fighting for free expression, 政府透明度, 宗教自由, 生育权, 以及LGBTQ+权利.
ACLU of Colorado’s litigation has fought back on behalf of people who are incarcerated, 非法移民, 有色人种, people experiencing homelessness, 和 people with low income caught up in the spiral of fines 和 fees in the criminal justice system. 除了, the ACLU of Colorado’s legal advocacy has, 不诉诸诉讼, often persuaded government officials to rescind or repeal a challenged policy, 实践, 或条例.
“Mark has long been known as one of the most effective lawyers in the ACLU,大卫·法特希说, Director of the sbobet篮球的国家 Prison Project. “He's everything you could ever want in a colleague: smart, 协作, 勤劳的, 和 fiercely dedicated to the clients we serve. We are deeply grateful for all that he's done to defend the rights of incarcerated people, 在所有人中, over the course of his long 和 distinguished career.”
One of Silverstein’s memorable cases was the ACLU’s class action challenge to the Denver police “间谍文件.” The ACLU uncovered evidence that the Denver Police Department’s “Intelligence Unit” was collecting information about the expressive activities of peaceful protesters, monitoring the activities of law-abiding advocacy groups, 和 then labeling them in police files as “criminal extremists.” A settlement ended the decades-long 实践.
另一个 集体诉讼 charged the El Paso County Sheriff with violating Colorado law by refusing — at the request of federal immigration authorities — to release prisoners who had posted bond. After the ACLU obtained a permanent injunction, the legislature adopted the court’s ruling by enacting a statute that now forbids all Colorado sheriffs from engaging in the once-common warrantless 实践.
除了al notable cases during Silverstein’s two 和 a half decades, the ACLU legal team:
- Challenged the Douglas County School District’s plan to use taxpayer funds to subsidize parents sending their children to religious schools, in violation of the state Constitution;
- Defended the rights of protesters when Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2008;
- Secured live-saving antiviral medication 对于被监禁的人 和 医疗补助受益人 患有丙型肝炎;
- Sued the GEO immigration detention facility in Aurora for the wrongful death of Kamyar Samimi;
- Successfully sued the Weld County District Attorney for engineering an illegal search of the confidential papers of thous和s of Weld County residents.
Most recently, after a three-week trial, a jury heard the ACLU of Colorado’s groundbreaking lawsuit against the City 和 County of Denver. It found that Denver police violated the constitutional rights of a dozen people who were peacefully protesting the murder of George Floyd during the summer of 2020. 陪审团裁定 1400万美元 的赔偿.
“The ACLU of Colorado would not exist as it does today without Mark’s unwavering commitment to civil liberties 和 the fight for justice for the past 26 years,” said ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Deborah Richardson. “We are so grateful Mark has agreed to continue on in an emeritus status, to continue to provide inspiration 和 counsel to the organization.”
“Working as an ACLU lawyer 和 Legal Director is one of the very best jobs an attorney could have,西尔弗斯坦说. “It has been a privilege 和 a lucky break for me to get to spend so many years working in an organization filled with so many dedicated civil libertarians 和 alongside some of the most talented lawyers in Colorado 和 in the country.”